Crash
by Gizmobunny
Summary: When Gabriella’s car blows a tire in the middle of nowhere, she only wants a place to stay. But what she finds is much more: friends, love, heartbreak, and really good pancakes. [Ryella, Troypay] Complete.
1. Familiar Faces in Rural Places

_Chapter One:__ Familiar Faces in Rural Places_

"_It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you don't stop."_

-Confucius

Twenty-two-year-old Gabriella Montez gripped the steering wheel and blinked back the urge to close her eyes. It was at least eleven o' clock by now. The girl scanned the dashboard with her flashing, black eyes. Eleven forty-six, blinked the clean, blue numbers set into the digital clock. She had been driving longer than she had imagined.

The wheels of Gabriella's Saab rattled and rolled through the potholes on the road. The tragic lack of asphalt made her stomach want to turn. There was no doubt in Gabriella's mind that her new, black tires would be in need of replacing before this trip was over.

It was the middle of June, and Gabriella was driving home from college to visit her mother in Albuquerque. It had been a whole six months since the two had seen each other, and Gabriella had been planning this surprise visit since April. What she hadn't been counting on, however, was I-40 being closed due to an accident involving a private plane and a truck carrying a mobile home as an oversized load. Having seen the fire from the exit a ways back, Gabriella had easily guessed that interstate traffic would be backed up all night.

For the first hour or so after Gabriella had exited the interstate and opted to continue on the back-roads of central New Mexico, she had been surrounded by other travelers attempting to make further headway before stopping to rest. Now, it appeared to be just Gabriella, her Saab, and a bunch of gravel.

"Can't they just pave the dang road?" Gabriella said out loud, partially to keep herself awake, and partially because she was just wondering. Dust was flying up on either side of the silver car, tinting the windows a grey/brown hue. It seemed like ages ago when Gabriella had been cruising down I-40, her radio blasting. Now, she was too far out for any radio station to even recognize her car's antennae.

Each time Gabriella blinked, her eyes seemed to stay shut for longer and longer periods of time. The urge to slump over the steering wheel and fall asleep with her face pressed against the speedometer was becoming stronger and stronger. Maybe if she just pulled the car over by the side of the road she wouldn't hit anything when she fell asleep. There sure as heck wasn't any other car around to hit…

_POP_.

Gabriella's eyes flew open at the noise. She felt the car sort of rock and then shudder, as if it was having a seizure. Slamming on the brake, Gabriella watched as the scenery flew past on either side of her. The vehicle didn't stop, but it slowed down significantly. Gabriella tried to pull her Saab off the road and into the grass, but the blown tire made it nearly impossible to steer in the right direction. The girl screamed as her car careened into the smothering, neck-high grass beside the road and, at last, stopped.

At first, the only noise was Gabriella's breath as she sat there, eyes twisted shut, heart pounding. But as she calmed down and began to relax her constricted muscles, she began to notice another noise.

"_Let the good times roll"_, belted Gabriella's purse. Immediately, her hand dove into it in search of the cell phone in question.

_Perfect timing,_ Gabriella mused sarcastically as she whipped out her phone. "Troy," read the Caller ID. _Even better,_ Gabriella thought. She had been with her boyfriend, Troy Bolton, since junior year in high school. Then, the two had been inseparable; every afternoon, it seemed, was spent together, at one house or the other. Regrettably, Troy and Gabriella had been growing apart since they had gone their separate ways for college. They hadn't spoken in what seemed like months. People asked Gabriella why she was still with him. Honestly, it was because they never talked long enough to actually come to the mutual decision to break up.

"Hello?" Gabriella said into the phone. She put on her signature Sweet Voice™, used only for parents of friends and, of course, boyfriends.

"Gabi!" Troy responded. Gabriella mentally kicked herself at how thrilled Troy sounded to talk to her. It was just one of the many things keeping them together.

"Troy," Gabriella said. "How are you?"

"Fine," he answered. "I'm great. And what about you?"

For a split second, Gabriella thought about lying and saying something along the lines of, _I'm great. I'm at home with my mom for the summer. _That response would have bypassed any sort of unwanted concern on Troy's part. However, something in Gabriella's brain was giving her a strange and sort of wicked thought: if Troy was worried about her, then he could come get her and take her home, to her mom's house. Perhaps, if Gabriella was lucky, he would even take care of getting a new tire for her. This whim-of-the-moment though was what caused Gabriella to blurt out, "Actually, I blew a tire on a road in the middle of nowhere. I don't have enough money to buy another one, and I don't have a ride or anything, since I don't know anyone out here." Gabriella held her breath and waited for her boyfriend's response.

"I'll come get you!" Troy wasted no time in saying. "Just tell me where your car is and I'll come find you!" He sounded rather excited about all of this. Gabriella tried her hardest to forget about the hundred-dollar bill stuffed down at the bottom of her wallet, for emergencies, and the sign for an approaching bed and breakfast she had passed a few minutes ago, boasting that it would happily welcome any visitors.

With a sinking, culpable feeling in her stomach, Gabriella rattled off the name of the last town she had passed, and the number of the exit she had used to come across the road she was on. Or rather, next to. She told Troy what her car looked like (a silver Saab with a yellow smiley-face on the antennae), and with a cheerful, "I'll be there tomorrow morning," from Troy, the two hung up.

Gabriella grabbed her purse from the passenger seat and opened the door to her car. The tall, spidery grass brushed up against her legs, giving her the sensation she had just walked unexpectedly into a sea of locusts. A rumble from the midnight sky forecasted what was rapidly appearing as Gabriella's enemy: rain. Already Gabriella was aware of fat, sloppy droplets landing on her forehead and on the tops of her tan Puma tennis shoes.

With one last, disinclined glance at her beloved Saab, Gabriella started up the road. The wind was beginning to blow angrily, mussing her hair. Her attempts to undo the rat's nest were futile; after a few minutes, Gabriella gave up the fight and allowed her black tresses to be blown wherever the wind wished them to go.

After about ten minutes of walking against the wind and the towering grass, Gabriella came within eyesight of what appeared to be a large, wooden sign. "Aunt Ruby's Bed and Breakfast," it read in large letters slapped on in red paint. A primitive drawing of an exaggerated, red jewel further demonstrated the title.

"Thank _God_," Gabriella whispered out loud, tilting her head up towards the swirling, black sky. She immediately regretted this action, as a raindrop landed in her eye, smudging her mascara.

The front walk up to the bed and breakfast seemed to last a lifetime. It was a journey to call its own; a complete exodus of sorts. By the time Gabriella reached the front stoop, she was ready to drop fast asleep on the splintered wood underneath her aching feet. She hardly had the energy to ring the doorbell.

A plump, angry woman in a harsh, man-ish nightshirt appeared at the door. Her graying hair was tousled, and her eyes were squinty and half-closed.

"Are you Ruby?" Gabriella asked hesitantly, and the woman nodded, stepping onto the threshold. Gabriella noticed that her feet were calloused and yellow.

"My car broke down," Gabriella explained as quickly as possible, "and I don't have a place to stay or the number of an auto shop to buy a new tire or-"

"No vacancy," Ruby growled.

"What?" Gabriella was dumbstruck.

"No vacancy," repeated Ruby. "Read the sign." Gabriella stepped back and searched in vain for a sign in the vicinity of the door. "At the sign by the road," the woman sighed. Then, with a huff and a muttered curse, she slammed the door in Gabriella's face, leaving the girl stranded on the rickety porch.

"Barbaric idiot," Gabriella, never one for swearing, hissed at the closed door. Whirling around on one sore heel, she began the march back up to the street. She was almost to the entrance when her foot came down on a muddy piece of paper. "No Vacancy", it read in thin, black Sharpie. Gabriella came extremely close to using some choice curses at that moment in time.

Feeling lost and disoriented, Gabriella started back up the road in the opposite direction from her car. Perhaps if she wandered far enough, she would come across a kindly stranger who would offer her a comfortable sofa on which to spend the night…

Then, the rain started.

Within seconds, Gabriella's entire figure was soaked through to the bone marrow, it seemed. Her T-shirt clung to her like a second, bright green skin, and her jeans gained approximately fifteen pounds from all the withheld water weight. Her Pumas went from a pleasant tan color to what can only be described as Puke. The ground beneath her feet became nothing more than a lasagna of eroding dirt and churning, brown water.

"Fiyero, hurry up and pee! It's raining!"

At first, Gabriella was sure the voice was a figment of her imagination; a pure invention due to early hypothermia.

"C'mon, you stupid dog! _Fiyero!_" The second time the voice came, Gabriella started to frantically look around for its source. It seemed to be coming from the other side of the road, directly across from where Gabriella had been standing, helplessly soaking up the rainwater. Squinting, she could indeed make out the shape of a mailbox, and beside it, the figure of a girl about Gabriella's own age. The girl was holding a leash, which was attached to the collar of a dog about the size of a microwave oven.

_Someone lives on this road!_ thought Gabriella. _I mean, someone who isn't a fat barbarian. _Forgetting her manners and her fears of muddying her sneakers, Gabriella broke into a desperate sprint, crossing the nearly invisible street in two seconds flat.

"Excuse me!" she called, and the girl turned around, her features still fogged by the downpour. "My car broke down and I'm stranded and I don't know anyone here to get help from…" The dog emitted a warning growl, but Gabriella ignored it. She had trailed off due to the fact that as she got closer, and the barrier of rain got thinner, she could make out the girl's face at last.

The blonde hair might have been pulled back in a scrunchie, but it was still bouncy and perfectly curled. And though the habitual four-inch stilettos were nowhere in sight, Gabriella still recognized the princess-like posture, the dainty-ness of the shoulders, and the slight jutting out of the hips. Gabriella would have recognized them of she was blind and stuck under a boulder.

It was Sharpay Evans, in the flesh.

"Are you okay?" Sharpay asked, referring to the fact that Gabriella's jaw was hanging wide open. She waved her hand in front of Gabriella's face, and black eyes met Sharpay's chocolate ones. A slight pang of recognition jarred Sharpay's mind. The dog began growling again.

"Sharpay?" said the dark-haired girl. A grin grew on Sharpay's face.

"Gabriella!" she squealed loudly and suddenly. The dog's growls became angered barks. "Omigosh! This is so cool!" Gabriella's heart swelled at the familiar language. It was like returning to America after years of nothing but Japanese.

"I can't believe you're here!" Sharpay went on, her face beaming.

"Me neither," Gabriella said. She was just as ecstatic as her old friend, but had different, more subdued ways of showing it.

Sharpay threw her arms around Gabriella. "So your car broke down? Where?" Gabriella pointed down the road.

"About ten minutes that way," she said. "I blew a tire and got stuck in a small ditch off the side of the road."

Sharpay nodded sympathetically. "There's a pothole there," she explained. "About half the people who drive around here in the dark hit it and screw up their cars. My brother did the same thing you did just a few months ago." Gabriella tensed at the mention of Ryan. She hadn't thought about him in ages, practically since graduation.

"Let's get you inside," Sharpay said. "You're already soaked." Though the hospitality was drastically out of character judging by the Sharpay Gabriella knew in high school, the action was welcomed. Gabriella had one concern first, though.

"What about my car?" she asked. "Someone could steal it overnight, or something…"

"In a town this small?" Sharpay laughed. "Don't worry about it." She took Gabriella's arm and began to lead her up the driveway. As they walked, the dog kept up futile attempts to wander off course and sniff the wet grass surrounding the driveway.

"Fiyero, you stupid dog," Sharpay scolded. "This is the last time I take you for a walk." She turned to Gabriella. "He's Ryan's dog," she explained. "That's why he's so stupid. It must have rubbed off on him."

Gabriella looked up from the dog and gasped at what she saw before her. Rising up from the wet darkness was one of the most beautiful homes Gabriella had ever seen. Elegant and grand, it must have covered a huge expanse of land. It was almost like a palace of yellow siding.

Gabriella didn't have to express her awe with words; her face must have shown it all. "It was my parents'," said Sharpay. "They came here on vacations for my whole childhood." She paused. "Now that they're gone, it's ours. Mine and Ryan's." Gabriella's silent reverence expanded when Sharpay led her through the front door and into the foyer.

"I can't believe you live here," Gabriella said, but soon took back her words, as she remembered how rich Sharpay and Ryan had been in high school. "Actually," she added, "I can."

Half an hour later, just a few minutes after midnight, Gabriella was settled into Sharpay's first story guestroom, and also wearing Sharpay's pajamas, as all of Gabriella's clothes were sitting idly in her car. The pajama pants were too short and too big in the legs, and the shirt was laughably roomy, but it was alright. _At least they're warm_, Gabriella thought, snuggling herself against the pillows. Above her, a ceiling fan turned slowly. She could still hear Fiyero's nail's clicking across the hardwood floors. Rolling over, she could still feel the hot tea in her stomach.

_What a day, _she thought. _I drove for two hours, nearly crashed my car, got drenched in the rain, and now I'm sleeping in Sharpay Evans' guestroom. Just wait until Troy finds out…_

Gabriella felt a pang in her heart. She had forgotten all about Troy. Then again, she was used to doing that. But how would he find her? He would be beside himself with worry…

With this calming and happy thought, Gabriella pulled the sheets (expensive yet soft) up to her chin and closed her eyes. In moments, she was asleep.


	2. Breakfast at Tiffany's

**Thanks to all three of you who reviewed. I'm really enjoying writing this, so I hope you'll enjoy reading it just as much. **_

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_Chapter Two: Breakfast at Tiffany's

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"_The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four Americans is suffering from some form of mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they're okay, then it's you.__" _-Rita Mae Brown

* * *

_Gabriella grabbed her mother's arm and gripped it tightly. "Where are we going?" she asked, taking in the dank, dark walls around her. _

"_Shhh," hushed Mrs. Montez. "Bruce knows what he's doing." She motioned about five paces ahead, where Batman was shuffling down the staircase, a lantern swinging in his hands. _

"_Were almost there," he called out. "How's your aunt doing?"_

_Gabriella's mother looked behind her and her daughter to where Lindsay Lohan, covered in sweat and looking rather queasy, was walking, wearing a simple dress made of grey flannel. _

"_She'll be better once we get her medicine," Mrs. Montez replied. _

"_The drug store is just on the other side of this door," Batman said. _

"_What door?" Gabriella asked, but as she spoke Batman uttered some magic words and a door appeared in the wall to their right. The man opened the door, and the posse appeared on a crowed 1930's street. _

"_The stock market is dropping!" shrieked one hysterical woman in a Russian-looking hat. She pointed upward, and Gabriella saw that a large, corporate-looking building was indeed falling from the sky. _

"_Use your powers!" Batman urged Gabriella. On his command, she sprouted giant wings and turned purple. She began to rise up into the air, a mace in hand. _

"_I'll be back," she shouted down to her mother…_

Gabriella awoke from her dream to the sudden sound of a car. The unfamiliar surroundings shocked her at first; she had gotten used to her dorm room back up at USC. For a second, she nearly believed that she was in her bedroom in Albuquerque, and she was about to head off to East High School. She caught sight of her attire, though, and was thrown back into reality. _I'm a guest in the palace of the Ice Queen_, she told herself. Oddly, though, Sharpay hadn't acted like her old self last night. She had been kinder, almost normal…

Gabriella grabbed a borrowed hairbrush from the nightstand and battled the tangles in her hair for a few moments. When she was done, she pulled on a sweatshirt Sharpay had loaned her and opened the door to the bedroom. The hardwood felt cold and soothing on her blistered feet, still sore from walking in the rain. She reached the living room with hopes to see that Sharpay was up. What she did see was completely unexpected.

Standing in the doorway between the living room and the foyer was Ryan Evans. Though Gabriella subconsciously realized it was him, her mind was reluctant to believe it. He was tall and slim and, without the dress shirt and hat, he was actually quite handsome. His blonde hair was light and tousled, and he wore a black rain jacket over a T-shirt, paired with some blue jeans. In his hands was a pair of wet tennis shoes, recently removed, so as not to muddy the floors. Though it sounded crazy, Gabriella noticed that in the light flooding in from the windows, Ryan looked rather like an angel.

And a surprised angel, at that. He seemed just as shocked to see Gabriella as she was to see him. It probably wasn't often that Hispanic girls in pajamas showed up in his living room.

"Gab…Gabriella?" he stuttered, taking another step into the room.

"Hey, Ryan," Gabriella said, trying her best not to think about the way her heart was skipping and fluttering with every look at the boy in front of her. _I do not like him,_ she thought frantically. _I do not like him. _

"What are you doing here?" Ryan dropped his shoes by the door and walked towards Gabriella. His brown eyes dropped down to her attire for a moment, and his expression became a mix between bemused and smug at catching her in such a wacky ensemble. Fiyero trailed behind Ryan, growling at his master's feet.

"My car blew a tire," Gabriella explained. "I don't know anyone around here to call about it."

"What were you doing driving through Lewisville anyways?" Ryan wanted to know.

"I was going give my mom a surprise visit," Gabriella answered. "There was a big crash on I-40, though, and I had to use back-roads to get to Albuquerque." Ryan nodded in understanding, and Gabriella felt her heart jump into her throat.

"So how have you been?" she asked Ryan, partly to fill the silence, and partly because she was curious.

"Fine," Ryan answered. On the mantelpiece, a clock ticked obnoxiously. "Busy," he added. "And you?"

"Same here," Gabriella replied. "I've been studying math at USC."

"I can see you doing that." Ryan smiled. "I was studying music." He paused.

"_Was_?" Gabriella repeated hesitantly. She bit her lip lightly.

"After my parents died," Ryan replied, "I didn't want to leave my sister alone in this huge house. I didn't want her to get lonely." He smiled again, and made a move to say something else. However, a voice from the stairs in the foyer stopped him before any words came out.

"Ryan?!" It was Sharpay. "Is that you?" The blonde trooped into the room wearing jeans and a pink sweatshirt. Her hair was wet and combed, sticking to her heart-shaped face in thick pieces.

"Gabby," she said when her eyes fell upon Gabriella. "You're up! How did you sleep?"

"Fine," Gabriella answered. "Thanks for letting me stay here." She looked from Ryan's face to Sharpay's, feeling suddenly uncomfortable.

"Who wants breakfast?" Sharpay said, breaking the silence. "Bacon? Eggs? Pancakes?"

"Sis'," he answered. "It's a special occasion. Gabriella's here. Why don't take her to, say, Tiffany's?"

* * *

As Ryan's pickup truck pulled into the parking lot, Gabriella learned that Tiffany's (no affiliation to the song) was actually a tiny local place situated between a Laundromat and a run-down, haunted-looking church. Ryan parked the truck next to the curb and let the girls out; there was a surprising amount of business for a place that didn't even have a sign. 

As soon as the three entered the building, Gabriella nearly choked on the smell of pancakes and syrup. An ancient jukebox was playing an Elvis song Gabriella didn't recognize. "Bacon and coffee!" growled an equally ancient waitress who, by the sound of it, had had a long and painful bout of lung cancer. She slapped a plate of heavily greased bacon in front of a couple sitting at the bar.

"Doreen!" Sharpay called, walking up to the edge of the bar. The wrinkled, grey woman turned around.

"Well, I'll be," she exclaimed. "It's the Evans'!" She took a slow look at Gabriella. "And I see y'all have brought a friend!" Doreen cast a suspicious glance at Ryan. The boy blushed openly, and Gabriella turned away.

"Gabby's just staying with us until we can get her car fixed," Sharpay said quickly. "Now I don't know about Gabby and my brother, but I'm in the mood for a big stack of pancakes…"

About ten minutes later, Gabriella found herself faced with the largest plate of pancakes she had ever ordered. Ryan had his own, but Gabriella and Sharpay were sharing a plate, as no girl should ever consume this much food at once.

"Well, here we go," Sharpay said with an ear to ear grin. She pushed her bangs behind one ear and laid the paper napkin across her lap. Gabriella picked up her fork, wielding it like a weapon.

_Here goes nothing… well, nothing except that diet I've been planning_, she thought. She had just picked up her own fork and loaded it with syrup-covered pancake when her cell phone went off.

"_Let the good times roll," _it belted for the second time in the past twenty four hours. Gabriella dug it out of her purse and read the name on the Caller ID.

"I have to take this," she said regrettably, and she ran off to the bathroom.

* * *

"Troy?" she said into the cell phone. 

"Gabriella!" Troy said. "Where are you?"

Gabriella's heart started beating faster. "Wh…What?" she stammered. "What do you mean?"

"I found your car," Troy continued. "But you never told me where _you_ were."

"Oh," Gabriella answered. "I… I'm out to eat right now, but…"

"Then I'll come find you," Troy suggested.

Gabriella racked her brain for a reply. Every time she opened her mouth, the words got stuck on her tongue. "Go down the road until you see a long driveway that goes to a huge, yellow house with a wrap-around porch," she said finally. "I'll get there sooner or later. Just look for a green truck to arrive, alright? Bye bye." Gabriella hung up without waiting for an answer. After a moment of catching her breath, she threw the door open and left the bathroom.

"Who was that?" Sharpay wanted to know as Gabriella sank back down into her seat at the booth. Ryan had finished his pancakes in the short time Gabriella had been gone. Sharpay had finished her share of the stack in between her and Gabriella; oddly, Gabriella wasn't hungry anymore.

"Troy," she said softly. "He wants to come and pick me up." Sharpay exchanged a glance with her brother.

"Don't you want to go with him?" Sharpay asked. "I mean, his _is_ your _boyfriend_, after all…"

Gabriella shrugged. "I'm just a little tired of him, I guess."

Sharpay reached across the table and put her hands on top of Gabriella's. "Leave it all up to me, Gabby," she said with a devious wink.

* * *

The three arrived back at the Evans' house fifteen minutes later to see that Troy had indeed arrived; his silver X3 was parked impatiently in front of the front steps, the lights still on. As soon as the truck pulled up, the driver's side door of the SUV opened up and a tall boy, wiry but muscular, stepped out, wearing blue basketball shorts and a white T-shirt with the sleeves cut off. 

"Sharpay?" was his first response when the truck stopped beside his SUV and the blonde girl stepped out of the passenger seat. Gabriella leaned down in her spot between the two front seats, trying to become invisible.

"It'll be okay," Ryan whispered. Gabriella looked up at him and nodded weakly. She felt nauseated. "Are you sure that you want to end it with him?"

Gabriella nodded again.

"Then follow my lead," Ryan said softly. They could here Sharpay and Troy talking outside the truck. "Just hold my hand, and follow me into the house when I leave." Another nod.

Ryan climbed out of his truck, and Gabriella followed.

"Gabby!" exclaimed Troy as soon as his girlfriend came around the edge of the vehicle. He made a move to hug her, but Gabriella avoided him by stepping backwards, her hand intertwined with Ryan's.

"Hey, Troy," she said. "How was the drive here?"

"Fine," Troy replied vaguely. His blue eyes traveled down to Gabriella's hand.

"Hey, Troy," Ryan said suddenly, to break the growing silence. Troy nodded in response, and the silence returned.

"Well," said Ryan. "I'm going to go inside and put my jacket up." Still gripping his hand, Gabriella followed, never meeting Troy's searching gaze. A bit of guilt crept into her heart as she felt his eyes on her back, but she chased it out.

_I'm not yours anymore_, she thought defiantly, hoping Troy could hear her thoughts.

As soon as she and Ryan got inside, Gabriella threw her arms around Ryan's neck.

"Thank you so much!" she squealed, laughter in her voice. "Do you think it

worked?" With her arms still around his neck, Gabriella looked up at Ryan. Her face was inches from him, and her dark eyes were locked into his lighter ones.

"I _hope_ it worked," Ryan whispered. For just a moment, he thought about kissing Gabriella. Something changes his mind, though. He was too worried about messing something up between them. Instead of kissing her, he reached his arms up behind Gabriella's head and pulled her as close as possible. For what seemed like an eternity, he held her like that, rocking back and forth, stroking her black hair.

"Am I going too fast?" Ryan asked softly.

"No," Gabriella whispered into Ryan's chest. "Just right."

It was at this moment that the front door opened. In a moment of panic, Ryan pushed Gabriella into the living room, following closely behind. He tore off his rain jacket and hung it on a metal hook.

"Just wait 'til you see the backyard!" Sharpay was saying to Troy when Ryan walked out of the living room doorway, Gabriella close behind.

"Who wants lemonade?" offered Sharpay, trying to avoid any awkward silences.

"Sure," answered Troy, but his eyes never left Gabriella's.

_Back off, _Gabriella thought. _Just back off. _

_

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**Please review if you liked it (and if you didn't). I want to hear from anyone who wants to say something. The next chapter should be up soon. I have seven as of now, but due to my computer being a moron, it may or may not take a few days. **

** Thank, **

** Giz**


	3. The Heartbreak

**Okay, so I lied about it taking a while to get this chapter up. My computer's cooperating! Three cheers for my computer!**

**Please excuse all the drama in this chapter. I borrowed my sister's _OC_ DVDs, so I'm going through a bit of a phase. ;)**

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__Chapter Three: The Heartbreak_

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"_Fall not in love… it will stick to your face." _-National Lampoon

* * *

"Great lemonade, Sharpay," said Ryan. It was the first thing said since the four had sat down at the slightly damp patio table out behind the kitchen.

"Yeah," agreed Gabriella as she moved her empty cup around in her hands.

"Thanks, guys," exclaimed Sharpay, her enthusiasm out of place. She flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder and straightened up in her seat.

"So Troy," she said, turning to the brunette boy. "What have _you_ been doing since we saw each other?" It was sickeningly obvious that she was flirting with him.

_Good job, Sharpay, _Gabriella thought.

"Basketball, more basketball," Troy answered with a chuckle. "And I'm studying sports medicine." He took one last sip of his lemonade before setting the glass down in front of him on the patio table. "One of my dad's friends talked me into it a couple of years ago. I'm glad I stuck with it."

Sharpay nodded and looked Troy in the eye. "You always were a smart one," she said daintily, twirling her hair with one manicured finger. It was almost a revelation of high school.

The conversation sort of ended there, as Troy stood up from his chair and asked: "Uh, where's the bathroom?"

"I'll show you," offered Sharpay, standing up as well. The two headed inside and out of view, and the porch was silent.

"So…" Ryan began. Gabriella giggled.

"My, you _are _talkative," she teased lightheartedly. She looked up at Ryan and met his gaze.

"I feel sort of bad treating Troy this way," she said suddenly.

"Gabriella," Ryan groaned. "You said on the way home from breakfast that you're bored with him. Why go out with some guy when you can't even force yourself to have a good time with him?"

"I never said I didn't want to break up with him," Gabriella argued. "I just said that I felt bad treating him like he isn't even there." Another thought popped into her mind. "And what if he sees me and you being all buddy-buddy and thinks I've been cheating on him all this time? I mean, he knows I just got here last night…"

"If you care what he thinks," interrupted Ryan, "then we can stop anytime. You know that, right?"

Gabriella turned in her seat and looked out across the backyard. It was huge and green, dotted with all sorts of flowers. Right in the middle of it was one of the largest pools Gabriella had ever seen. It was clear and oval, with a fake waterfall decorating one side. The sunlight filtered through the water formed patterns on the plastic lining.

"Yeah," she said at last. "I know that."

"Good," Ryan said softly. "So just tell me what you want to do." He paused. "If you want to, you can go with him. I mean, if that's what you want…"

Gabriella's heart swelled. She didn't want to go with him. That much was obvious. But what could she do? Stay here? Be a burden to the Evans' twins? And with what excuse?

_I'd like to stay with you two,_ she could see herself saying. _Why? Because I think I'm in love with Ryan Evans. _Gabriella stopped herself short. Had she really just thought that? She turned back around to face Ryan. He was looked patiently at her. When their eyes met, he smiled.

"So what will it be?" he asked slowly. "Are you gonna go with Troy?"

"I…" Gabriella stuttered. "I… don't know." She closed her eyes and tried to muster up all of her courage.

_I can do this,_ she told herself.

"I don't want to go with him," she felt herself say. She pulled her legs up into her seat and buried her face in her knees. Through what seemed like layers of thick plastic, Gabriella heard Ryan moved his seat closer. She felt his hand on her back.

"It's going to be okay," he whispered. "Really, it is."

Gabriella looked up and wiped a single tear from her cheek. "I believe you," she said.

* * *

The two had been sitting out on the porch alone for what seemed like half an hour when they realized something: Troy and Sharpay still weren't back.

"Maybe they fell into some alternate universe," suggested Ryan as he and Gabriella stepped over the threshold and into the kitchen.

"Or maybe the garbage disposal ate them." When Ryan gave her a puzzled look, Gabriella added, "I always thought that would happen when I was younger. I made my mom throw away everything for me."

Ryan laughed openly as he led Gabriella out of the kitchen and into the hallway that led to the foyer. "Okay," he said in his best commander voice. "You look that way," he motioned over to the living room area, "and I'll looked over here," he motioned over to the other half of the house. "If we don't find them down here, we'll check upstairs."

Gabriella nodded. "Yes sir," she giggled before heading through the doorway to the living room, thankful that Ryan couldn't see her blushing like mad.

Gabriella wandered through that part of the house, but didn't hear anything until she passed by the hallway leading to the guestroom. As she trekked into the hallway, she heard a noise that reminded her of a toothbrush holder being knocked to the floor. But why would Troy be brushing his teeth? Gabriella moved slowly but deliberately towards the door to the bathroom. As she got closer, something hit the other side of the door, making her jump slightly.

_Oh, gosh,_ she thought frantically. Her mind raced. Was Troy having a seizure or something? And where the heck was Sharpay?

Gabriella put her hand on the doorknob and, taking a deep breath, threw it open suddenly. What she saw took her breath away.

_At least I found both of them_, she told herself.

Sharpay, in her blue jeans and pink sweatshirt, was feverishly kissing Troy, who appeared to have his hands up Sharpay's aforementioned sweatshirt. The two looked as though they were attempting to devour each other, and if one tried to separate them they would get eaten as well.

Gabriella felt like throwing up. Leaving the door wide open, she stumbled away from the bathroom and into the living room.

"Gabriella?" she heard Ryan calling from the foyer as she collapsed onto the sofa.

_I don't still love Troy,_ she told herself a million times over. _Why am I so mad? Who am I even mad at? _

"Gabriella?" repeated Ryan as he came into the living room and saw the dark haired girl lying on the sofa. "I didn't find them, so why don't we…"

"I did," Gabriella interrupted. "I found them. In there." She motioned weakly at the hallway. "See for yourself."

"Gabriella," Ryan started to say, but another voice cut him off.

"Gabriella?" Troy stormed out of the hallway, his face screwed up in confusion and concern. "I'm _so _sorry, I-"

"Gabby," Sharpay was saying, but Gabriella was trying her best to tune it all out. The faces were peering down at her, their mouths moving, but the voices all sounded like the teacher from Charlie Brown.

"Just stop talking," Gabriella forced herself to shout out. In act of utmost difficulty, she tore herself from the sofa and leapt up, over the back and as far as her jump could take her.

"I don't want to hear what any of you have to say," she shouted, her voice wobbly and wet. Her legs gave out beneath her, and she collapsed onto the carpeted floor. At once, she felt a pair of arms around her body.

"Gabriella," whispered Ryan. Gabriella fell backwards into his arms and let him hold her until she stopped shaking.

Looking up from the floor, Gabriella saw that all eyes were on her; Troy's eyes were filled with shame; Sharpay's were filled with regret; Ryan's were filled with love and concern. Gabriella chose his to look at, and she looked at them until she and Ryan were the only ones left in the room. Maybe they were the only ones left in the world. Gabriella would have like that.

* * *

An hour later, Gabriella was sitting on the guest room bed, dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt, both borrowed from Sharpay. In her solitude, she had taken to wandering the room, looking at all the family pictures. They were everywhere, covering the tops of the dresser, the desk, and the nightstand. Gabriella's personal favorite was a family portrait that she had discovered on the dresser, pushed behind the lamp. The picture was taken when Ryan and Sharpay were about five, from the looks of it. Sharpay, not yet blonde, was wearing an embarrassing, frilly pink dress that matched her mother's. Ryan and his father were wearing matching suits. Gabriella had never seen their parents before. Mrs. Evans was beautiful and tall, with the same blonde hair as her son. Mr. Evans was strong-willed and brunette, by the looks of it. What Gabriella loved about the picture was the togetherness of the four Evans'. It was just like the bond between the twins. Gabriella was secretly jealous: her parents had gotten a divorce when Gabriella was only three. She had seen her father twice since then. He mom had recently remarried, but she was too old to ha

ve anymore children. Gabriella's high hopes of a sibling were never to be fulfilled.

"Gabby?" Gabriella jumped at the sudden voice. It was Troy.

"Come in," she called back, hurrying to put the picture back on the nightstand beside the bed.

Troy entered wearing an expression of apology and shame. He took a seat at the foot of the bed.

"I'm about to leave," he said. "I just wanted to talk to you."

Gabriella let out a hum of indifference.

"I know you're mad about what you saw in the bathroom earlier," Troy continued. "I wanted to say that I really am sorry."

"I forgive you," lied Gabriella. Troy smiled at her.

_You can't smile at me like that, _she thought angrily. _Only Ryan can smile at me like that._

"Can I walk you to your car?" Troy asked. Gabriella had actually been planning on getting Ryan to help her with that, but she accepted all the same. Slipping on a pair of flip flops Sharpay had loaned her, Gabriella followed Tory outside.

The sun was glaring and bright as they headed down the driveway.

"So what's with you and Ryan?" Troy asked suddenly. Gabriella felt a wall of defense go up between her and Troy.

"Nothing," she said too quickly.

"Liar," Troy said with a smile. "Don't think I didn't see him hug you today in the living room."

"It's nothing," Gabriella said again, more forcibly this time. "Seriously."

"Good," Troy said. "I don't want to lose you to him."

Gabriella's heart stopped. Had he really just said that?

"I really do love you, Gabby," he went on casually. "You know that, right?"

Gabriella clenched her teeth and her fists. "I wish I could say yes," she said, trying to keep her cool. "Actually," she corrected, "I don't wish that. We've been going out for seven years. Don't you imagine I'm getting a little bored?"

Troy looked stunned. Gabriella had _never_ spoken to him like this…

"What are you talking about?" he asked. They had stopped moving by now.

"I'm talking about _us_, egghead," Gabriella found herself saying. "I'm talking about how I spent seven years loving you and waiting for you to call, all to find you kissing one of my best friends in a _bathroom_! And you think a 'sorry' will fix everything?" She paused for a breath. "You really _must _have nothing but a basketball stuck up in the head of yours," she said, remembering something her friend Taylor McKessie had said back in high school in reference to her boyfriend, another basketball player.

"Gabby…" Troy said in a choked voice. "Gabriella…"

Gabriella left him standing there, to say the least, stuttering to himself.

* * *

Gabriella walked the rest of the way to her car by herself. When she returned to the house, her suitcase in her hands, she wasn't surprised to find that the silver X3 was nowhere to be found. Biting her lower lip, she raced up the front steps and into the house.

_Maybe I was too harsh on him,_ she thought to herself.

"Sharpay? Ryan?" Gabriella called out, dropping her luggage in the foyer. Preceded by a chorus of footsteps, the twins hurried into the room, appearing frazzled and interrupted.

"Gabby," Sharpay began, apology in her voice, by the petite, dark girl cut her off.

"Did Troy just leave?" Gabriella wanted to know. She glanced at Ryan as if for an answer.

"Uh, yeah," Ryan said, a look of regret on his face. "Why?

"I just wanted to make sure he was alright…" Gabriella trailed off at the look on the Evans' faces.

"He didn't really say anything," Sharpay said slowly.

"He looked kind of…dazed," her brother added hesitantly. He wrung his hands and failed to meet Gabriella's gaze.

"I… I'm going to go lie down," Gabriella said quietly. She grabbed her suitcase from the floor and dashed off to her new bedroom, her shoes making annoying flapping sounds on the floor.

"Gabriella," Ryan called after her for what seemed like the hundredth time that afternoon. He had reached her bedroom door before she turned to face him.

"What?" she asked, her eyes welling up with tears. Ryan held out his arms, welcoming her to fall into them once more.

_I'm getting too used to this, _Gabriella thought as she fell into his chest.

"Do you still love him?" Ryan asked, referring to Troy.

Gabriella sucked in a long breath and looked off to the side. "You should have heard how I talked to him," she said. "He had never heard me talk to him like that, Ryan. You should have heard me." Pulling away from Ryan, Gabriella straightened out her hair and wiped the salty tears from beneath her eyes.

"I sounded like… like an Ice Queen."

* * *

**So that's Chapter Three. Chapter Four ("The Thing About Cell Phones") is on the way, with more drama than ever. Review, please!**

** -Giz**


	4. The Thing About Cell Phones

**Okay, my internet has been down, so I haven't been able to get these next chapters up. I apologize for the long wait. Thanks to all of you who replied, whough. I really appreciate it!**_

* * *

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_Chapter Four: The Thing about Cell Phones_

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* * *

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"_The computer is a moron." _-Peter Drucker

* * *

"_Hi, it's me, Troy. I can't come to the phone right now, so just leave me a message and I'll call you back. –BEEP."_

Gabriella had seldom been more frustrated at anybody than she was now at Troy. Just when she felt like apologizing for earlier, he refused to answer his cell phone. _Typical, _she told herself.

"_Hi, it's me, Troy-"_

How many times had Gabriella heard that very voicemail in the last seven years? It was impossible to count.

"_I can't come to the phone right now-"_

It came across to Gabriella as a sad thought that after years of saying "We've been going out," she could now say, "We _went_ out," instead. At least, she assumed she had broken up with Troy. How could a girl have an argument that big and not break up with her boyfriend?

"…_just leave me a message and I'll call you back…"_

Gabriella threw the phone at the dresser without giving it a chance to beep. It missed the wood but hit the floor with a satisfying _thud_. Rolling over on her new bed, Gabriella exhaled sharply. Why wasn't Troy picking up his phone? Gabriella was getting worried. What if he had done something stupid out of anger and was now lying in a ditch in, like, the middle of nowhere? Gabriella shuddered at the thought. _I really need to stop thinking like that_, she thought. _Sooner or later something is going to really happen. _

"Gabby?" yelled Sharpay's voice from across the house. "Dinner's ready!!"

Gabriella dragged herself off of her bed and slipped off the flip flops from earlier that day. A brief glance in the mirror nearly made her jump back out of fright; her mussed hair and piggy eyes gave her the appearance of a walking corpse.

Sharpay had fixed stir fry for dinner. It sat out on the kitchen table in an elegant, Asian-looking arrangement. Gabriella was impressed. At home, she and her mom usually just ate something frozen out of the freezer, like a Lean Cuisine or something. Occasionally, Jacqueline Montez would cook something Mexican, but that was only on special occasions.

"This looks great," Gabriella said mechanically as she sat down in the chair Ryan had pulled out for her. The high back felt awkward to her neck, stiff from her endless afternoon of lying on her bed, relentlessly dialing on her cell phone.

Ryan and Sharpay said grace, and Gabriella looked dutifully down at her napkin-covered lap, feeling like a stranger.

"Amen," she whispered when her friends were through.

Gabriella's mind never left Troy as she spooned the stir fry into her mouth. Should she have said something after the argument? Should she have even argued in the first place? She never meant for Troy to leave her. Sure, she was tired of him, but that didn't mean she wanted to never speak to him again. In fact, there was a pretty good chance she might never see him again after this after this afternoon; after Troy had graduated, his parents had moved away from Albuquerque, so that even when he came home from college, it would be to a different place…

"Are you okay?" Sharpay asked suddenly. Gabriella looked up from her food; she had subconsciously dropped a large portion of broccoli into her napkin.

"I'm fine," she forced out, shaking her head slightly, as if to push out the thoughts of Troy.

Sharpay hummed in thought. "Still worried about Troy?" she asked sympathetically.

"Yeah," Gabriella answered slowly. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Ryan looked away from the table, a glint of distance in his eyes.

"He'll be alright," said Sharpay, not seeing her brother's dismal mood. "Boys get over things fast. Trust me." She shoved her blonde hair out of her eyes and took another bite of food.

* * *

After dinner, as Sharpay and Ryan worked on the dishes, Gabriella lounged on the living room sofa and played with her cell phone some more. She searched in vain for a message from Troy, or from someone who knew Troy, or from Troy's parents. Her brain felt like it might explode if she didn't find out anything tonight before she went to bed.

"_Hi, it's me, Troy-"_

Gabriella closed the flip top of her phone and laid it down on the coffee table, attempting to force away the urge to pick it back up.

_Why can't I stop thinking about him?_, she wondered, slumping back against the sofa back. _I sure as heck don't love him. Something must have happened to him, then. Something bad. What if he's dead?_

Gabriella rose from the couch and wandered into the kitchen. Ryan was nowhere in sight, but Sharpay was still rinsing plates, the dishwater open beside her feet.

"Sharpay," Gabriella began, "I can't stop thinking about Troy."

"Young love," Sharpay suggested without even turning around.

"_No_," Gabriella protested. "That's not it. I just…" She paused. "I'm worried. I mean, I have a bad feeling. He left angry, and what if something bad happened?"

Sharpay turned around and furrowed her brow. "C'mere," she said, her voice softer than Gabriella had ever heard it. Sharpay pulled Gabriella in and wrapped her arms around the girl's body.

"It's going to be okay," she whispered. "Troy too. I'm sure he's fine."

"Thanks," Gabriella muttered into the blonde girl's sweatshirt. "Really."

The two pulled apart, and after a few moments, Sharpay went back to the dishes.

"So," she said casually. "What is it with you and my brother? You two seem kind of… friendly."

Gabriella felt herself blush from her head to her toes. "I… I don't know…"

Sharpay chuckled. "_Yes_ you do," she protested playfully, reminding Gabriella of Troy's words earlier that day. "I saw the way he hugged you."

"Fine," Gabriella gave in. Sharpay had been her best friend in high school, after all. Couldn't she tell her anything? "He seems to like me…"

"Like heck he does," Sharpay said intensely. "He told me he did while you were in your room earlier, thinking about Lover Boy Troy."

Gabriella sighed and looked everywhere but at Sharpay. "Okay," she gave in. "I really like talking to him, and he's really nice, and I guess I like him. I mean, I'm not in love with him or anything. I'm not even sure I like him that way all that much…"

A sudden noise in the living room sent a shudder down Gabriella's spine, and she whirled around with the speed of sound. Her eyes reached the doorway just fast enough to catch a T-shirted shoulder dashing away.

"Ryan!" she yelled out, her voice breaking. "Wait! Please!" Her feet couldn't move too fast as she raced out of the kitchen.

"Ryan, _please_," she started to repeat as the boy darted up the stairs and out of view. However, she was interrupted by a noise that had never sounded so sinister.

"_Let the good times roll,_" sang her cell phone, which was still laying face-down on the coffee table on the other side of the sofa. Gabriella leapt over the sofa and bounced a little as she landed on the other side. Her hand swiped up the phone; her eyes scanned the Caller ID. She didn't recognize the number.

"Hello?" she asked shakily.

* * *

In the kitchen, Sharpay heard her friend's phone ring. She peeled off her gloves and placed the dish she was holding back in the soapy water nearly overflowing in the sink.

_Please let it be good new, _she prayed silently, creeping up to the edge of the kitchen doorway.

"Hello" she heard Gabriella say. From her position, Sharpay couldn't hear anything but a murmur on the other end.

"Wh…What?" Gabriella stammered. Sharpay held her breath and looked at the ceiling.

_Please…_

"Oh my gosh…"

_Let him be okay. _

"Is he alright?"

_Let him just be alive. _

"I'm so sorry; I don't know what to say."

_If he's dead, I'll die too. _

"I'll be there as soon as I can."

_Troy…_

"I'll bring Sharpay and Ryan if they'll come."

_Thank you, God. Thank you so much…_

"Bye, Mrs. Bolton. I'll see you in a bit."

Sharpay heard Gabriella place her phone back on the coffee table. The latter girl just sat there for a moment, staring into the empty, dark space in the living room.

"Sharpay?" she whimpered, pulling her knees up onto the sofa. Sharpay sauntered into the room and leaned over the back of the sofa.

"Yeah," the blonde girl asked slowly, a lump growing in her throat.

Gabriella turned around. There were tears welling up in her dark eyes.

"Get Ryan," she said, her voice reduced to a whisper.

"And?" Sharpay urged on, her heart beating twice as fast as it should have been.

Gabriella took a deep a breath. "Troy's in the hospital. He was in a car crash."

* * *

**So there's Chapter Four. I hope you enjoyed it! More drama is on the way, never fear!**

**-Giz**


	5. The Longest Night

**So yeah, I managed to get this chapter up to. **

**To answer a question asked to me in a review, about why Sharpay ended up in a small town: Her and Ryan's parents died about a year or two before this story takes place (I decided that it was a car crash). They had a large mansion in a small town where they took vacations all throughout Ryan and Sharpay's childhoods, just to get away from their kids. When Mr. and Mrs. Evans died, the kids in question had two options: sell the house, or live in the house. Sharpay wanted to sell it, since she had made plans to move to New York and make her way to stardom. Ryan, on the other hand, wanted to live there. He had been a lot closer to his parents than Sharpay and didn't want to sell their gorgeous, prized summer home, however rural the landscape was. So that's how they ended up there. Ryan said that his sister could move to New York anyways if she wanted, but she knew that they would hate being so far apart. In conclusion, she moved into the house with him. **

**Don't you just love back stories?**

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* * *

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_Chapter Five: The Longest Night_

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* * *

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"_Grief is the agony of an instant, the indulgence of grief the blunder of a life." _

-Benjamin Disraeli

* * *

Gabriella clenched her teeth and gripped the back of Sharpay's seat. Her stomach felt sick and her eyes felt as though they were burning. In her mind, she kept picturing the worst, over and over again, like a slideshow of massacre.

"Ryan," Sharpay urged. She hadn't been able to sit still for the last forty-five minutes since they left Lewisville. "Can't you go any faster?"

"That's the fourth time you've asked me that," Ryan answered coldly, his eyes staying glued to the black road ahead. "If I go faster, we'll _all _end up in the hospital."

Gabriella's stomach lurched again at Ryan's insensitive words. Leaning back against her seat, she closed her eyes and tried to imagine herself lying on her dorm bed, safe and relaxed, studying some math or something. This daydream was knocked into shambles, however, when an eighteen-wheeler passed, it's engine rattling the windows of Ryan's truck.

"I still don't see why we couldn't take _my_ car," Sharpay said, turning to gaze out of her window. "This car makes me carsick."

Ryan gripped the steering wheel even tighter. "We took this car," he said, his voice level and emotionless, "because I'm a much safer driver than you, and we both know it."

"Safer, yeah," Sharpay retorted, "but with you at the wheel, we'll be lucky to reach the hospital by tomorrow night."

"With _you_ at the wheel," Ryan said, "we'd be lucky to walk away with paralysis!"

"Just shut up and drive," Sharpay growled, her voice rising, "or you'll have more coming that just paralysis!" She let out a frustrated moan. "Gosh, sometimes you are so _stupid_!"

Ryan turned his head and shot an ice-cold glare at his twin sister. "I know you didn't mean that," he hissed. Sharpay lowered her eyebrows.

"Every word, _dorkus!_" she spat.

"_Ice Queen!_" Ryan taunted from the driver's seat.

"Take that back!" Sharpay uncrossed her arms and narrowed her chocolate eyes.

"Make me," her brother shouted.

"You guys!" Gabriella screamed from her place in the back seat. Tears were welling up in her eyes as she hung between her friends' seats. Her skin looked several shades too pale for her race. Immediately, the noise was silenced.

"I've spent too much of today hearing people - including myself - fight over stupid things," she said weakly. "Can't you stop for one second?" Sharpay turned around and looked her friend in the eye, her blonde hair seeming rather deflated and limp.

"I'm really sorry," she offered, but Gabriella wasn't listening. She had returned to her post at the car window, watching New Mexico flash past in dark blurs.

Sharpay whirled back around to face the front. The road seemed to stretch forever in front of them. Gabriella had told her that the hospital where Troy had been taken was an hour and a half northeast of Lewisville, very close to where Mr. and Mrs. Bolton now lived. This left the trio another forty-five minutes of travel.

Looking to her left, Sharpay saw that her brother was still watching the road, an indifferent look in his eyes. With utmost cunning, the girl reached down and hit the "on" button on the radio.

"_It's my life," _wailed Gwen Stefani, _"It never ends…"_

Sharpay hummed along and tapped her fingernails on the dashboard. The beat of the song pounded through the scratchy speakers in front of her, making her ears feel itchy and buzzing.

"Shar," Ryan said plainly, still staring straight ahead. "I can't concentrate."

"What's to concentrate on?" his sister replied sharply. "We're going in a straight line!"

"It's eleven o' clock at night," Ryan corrected, "and I can't watch the road and hear… hear _that_ at the same time."

"What the _heck_ am I supposed to do for the next forty-five minutes?" Sharpay asked sarcastically. "Count my arm hair?"

"Sounds good," Ryan replied. "Go for it."

Sharpay scrunched up her face and stared at her brother. "I'm telling you," she said, her voice getting louder. "You should have let me drive."

"And risk our lives? I don't think so!"

"What are the odds of us getting into a wreck just because I happen to be driving? You could get us into a wreck, too, you know…"

"I'm not saying that! I'm just saying that it doesn't hurt to be careful on the highway at night-"

"You are such a dork!"

"And you're such a spoiled, conceited _brat_!"

"I hate you, Ryan Matthew Evans, and I wish you'd never been born!"

"Well, I wish a big truck would ram into this car right now and slice your jabbering head off!"

In the cramped backseat, Gabriella laid down so that her face was buried in the fabric, and cried, the arguments of the Evans' twins like twisted lullabies to her sore ears.

* * *

The truck reached Glory Everlasting Medical Center at 11:58 PM, with six gallons of gas left in the tank, and no patience left in any of the occupants. Gabriella had alternated between sleeping at crying for the last forty minutes, and the twins had only talked when arguing over something, or debating which exit to take to reach the hospital. The radio had stayed off the whole time.

After parking in the nearly empty visitors' lot, the trio made their way into the building. The bright, fluorescent lights nearly blinded them as they entered through the automatic doors.

_We wouldn't be here if it weren't for me, _Gabriella reminded herself as Ryan walked up to the reception desk.

"Troy Bolton," he told the tired looking woman. She twisted her limp black hair as she checked the computer.

"Umm," she said after a moment. "He's in intensive care, and can only receive direct relations"

"His mother told us to come," Gabriella cut in, stepping up to the desk. Ryan didn't even look at her.

The black-haired woman bit her lip and looked the two in the eyes. "I'm very sorry," she started to say, but was interrupted by a relieved cry from the other side of the hall.

"Gabriella," Mr. Bolton cried. "Thank God you're here!"

Gabriella turned and nearly fainted with relief at the sight of Troy's father.

"Mr. Bolton," she sighed, throwing her bony arms around him. "I came as soon as your wife called me."

"And I'm so glad you're here," Mr. Bolton said. He took in the sight of the Evans' twins with a puzzled expression.

"Sharpay?" he offered, seeing the blonde girl. Sharpay smiled.

"It's so good to see you, Mr. Bolton," she said, her voice dry and empty. "And this is my twin brother." She motioned to Ryan, who nodded his head sharply.

Mr. Bolton returned to gesture and then turned to face down the hallway. "Follow me," he said.

As the three down the hallway, a frightening and hesitant question came to Gabriella's mind. "How did it happen?" she asked in a small voice, casting her eyes down to the tile floor. Behind her, Sharpay's breathing jumped and Ryan wrung his hands, trying not to hear anything that was said.

"We don't really know," Mr. Bolton answered. "His car was totaled," Gabriella took in a sharp breath: Troy had loved his car almost as much as Gabriella, "and pushed into the middle of the interstate. The cops think that he swerved and got hit side-on by the other car involved."

"The other car?" Sharpay asked.

"The driver got away with a broken arm," Mr. Bolton said, looking up at the ceiling. Gabriella hesitated.

"… And Troy?" she asked slowly.

Mr. Bolton waited a little while before answering, giving Gabriella's imagination several seconds to play the scenario of the crash over and over again in her head.

"He… he has…" Mr. Bolton paused. "The side window shattered, and his door was hit so hard that the impact from it itself broke his left arm. His head was bleeding pretty badly. We're still trying to decide whether it's a fracture or just a concussion. That's all we know, as of now."

The group was nearing the Intensive Care unit now. Gabriella looked around nervously. With a pang in her heart, she saw the name "Bolton" written in Expo marker on a whiteboard outside of a room with an open door. Through a window in the wall, she glimpsed Mrs. Bolton sitting in a chair.

"Now, try not to be too shocked by the way he looks," Mr. Bolton continued. "Just keep in mind that he can't feel anything. He's fast asleep."

On feet that didn't seem attached to her, Gabriella walked into the room, some unseen force guiding her. From behind, she felt a hand slip into her own. Long, polished nails against her skin told her that it was Sharpay.

Sure enough, sitting in on of the chairs by the bed was Mrs. Bolton. She looked tired, and her dark brown hair, slightly mottled with grey, was tied back with a rubber band. Beside her was a teenaged girl with light brown curls and a pair of black Converse high tops.

"Hi Mrs. Bolton," said Sharpay, letting go of her best friend's hand. She turned to the girl. "Hey, what's up, Kayla?" Kayla shrugged and turned to Gabriella.

"Kayla," said Gabriella. "You've grown up!"

"I'm seventeen, now," the girl said. "I'm graduating from East High next year."

"She refused to transfer when we moved," Mrs. Bolton said with a smile.

"I drive myself," Kayla said proudly. "It's only half an hour."

The others continued to talk, but Gabriella's mind wandered as she glanced across the room to the stretcher placed next to several beeping machines. Lying on the stretcher was a lanky, muscular body that Gabriella had seen less than twelve hours before. Then, she had been angry and fiery; now, she was grief-stricken and dazed, not to mention carsick from Ryan's truck.

Sharpay squeezed Gabriella's hand and followed behind her as the two stepped over to stand beside the bed. Gabriella was aware of Ryan taking a seat in one of the chairs next to Mrs. Bolton.

"Troy," Sharpay whispered. The body on the stretcher only resembled the Troy they knew in that they had similar features and were wearing the same tennis shoes. This Troy had pale skin and a gauzy bandage wrapped tightly around his head, which was covered in matted, slightly bloody brown hair, blonde on the ends from the sun. His arm was wrapped up with thick cloth and steadied with a splint. His face and upper body, or at least what wasn't covered by the hospital gown, was scarred and bloodied with tiny cuts from the broken glass. One thing for sure was that this accident would always be written across his face and neck.

Gabriella choked a little and felt a faint feeling in her stomach. She felt sick, and every breath was painful labor. "Sharpay…" she breathed. She was apparent of an arm on her shoulder as Sharpay reached out to steady her. The ceiling was spinning above her, and the hospital room was growing bigger and smaller at once.

* * *

An eternity later, Gabriella opened her eyes to the pleasant yet tired face of Mrs. Bolton. There was a bad taste in her mouth and a funny feeling in her head.

"What…" she started to say, but a voice from behind cut in.

"You passed out," Sharpay said. "I brought you some water and a Snicker's bar." She held out a plastic cup and a candy bar to Gabriella, but Gabriella turned them down.

"I don't feel very good," she groaned. "I… I want to see Troy."

"That might not…" Mrs. Bolton started, but Sharpay interrupted again.

"My brother's going to take you back to the house," she said, a definitive tone to her voice. "I'm going to stay here and help look after Troy." Gabriella looked around for the other twin, but he was nowhere to be found.

Reading Gabriella's mind, Sharpay added, "Ryan went on down to the car."

"Nice seeing you, honey," Mrs. Bolton said to Gabriella as Sharpay started to drag her away, down the tiled hall.

"Sharpay," Gabriella growled as soon as they were out of earshot of the Boltons'. "I want to stay with Troy!"

"No, you don't," Sharpay argued. "One look at him and you pass out, with tears in your eyes."

"It was just… shock," explained Gabriella. "I… I didn't expect…"

"That he'd be so bloody? He was in a _car crash_, for Pete's sake!"

"That's not what I meant! I was just…" Gabriella stuttered. "I feel like all this is my fault, that's all."

"How would it be your fault?"

Gabriella paused as they got on the elevator to the lobby. "I got mad and drove him away from your house," she answered. "If I hadn't broken up with him…"

"You broke up with him?" Sharpay squealed.

"What did you think he got so upset over?" Gabriella raised one eyebrow.

"I thought you just got in a fight with him," Sharpay explained. "Gee… I never guessed it was really over. I mean, you've been together for seven years!"

"Are you trying to make me feel guilty about it, or something?" Gabriella asked as the elevator door slid open, revealing the crowded, busy lobby. It seemed dismal and dark now.

"No," Sharpay said. She patted Gabriella on the shoulder. "But I know someone who's gonna be happy…" She motioned outside the double doors where Ryan's truck was parked beneath the canopy.

"Sharpay," Gabriella asked as they walked through the automatic doors. "Why were you kissing Troy in the guest bathroom?" She took another step towards the truck before turning to face her friend. Sharpay wrinkled her brow and stared off into space.

"I…" she started. "I love him." The air between them turned awkward and thick with tension. Without a word, Gabriella turned and opened the passenger door of Ryan's truck.

"Take good care of him," she muttered before climbing into the vehicle. As Ryan maneuvered the truck out of the parking lot, Gabriella kept her head turned around, her eyes straining to see the front entrance to the hospital. Sharpay was gone, though, vanished back into the building.

* * *

For the first half hour of the trip home, not a word was said. Ryan kept his eyes glued to the road; Gabriella kept her eyes glued shut, her hands gripping each other in a desperate attempt to ward off carsickness.

"Are you okay?" Ryan asked suddenly, turning a little bit to face Gabriella.

"What do you mean?" Gabriella replied, opening her eyes.

"You passed out at the hospital," said Ryan. "And now you have this weird look on your face. That's what I mean."

"I'm fine," Gabriella lied, her eyes straining to hold in tears. "Really." She pulled her legs up into her seat, bending her knees and pulling them against her chest. "I was just a little shocked at seeing Troy that way."

"Yeah," Ryan sympathized. "He looked pretty beat up." Gabriella said nothing, and the car was once again filled with silence.

Gabriella looked over at the dashboard clock. 12:49, it blinked at her. _Too late to be awake, _she thought, yawning.

She fell asleep after that, and had a dream that Troy married that Gretchen girl from _Mean Girls_ and they lived in a one room apartment behind the bakery from _The Boxcar Children_. Troy wanted to by a new sofa, but his wife said he was too frail to move it into the apartment. It was at this moment that Gretchen suddenly turned into a vampire and began to suck Troy's blood, little by little…

"Gabriella?"

Gabriella opened her eyes to the dark of the inside of Ryan's car. A light touch on her shoulder caused her to look up, right into Ryan's pale face.

"We're home," he said softly, and for a moment Gabriella forgot that they weren't on speaking terms. With the eyes of a newborn, she looked up at him, and he smiled.

"C'mon," he said, grabbing her hand and helping her out of the car, into the peaceful night

* * *

**That was Chapter Five. Chapter Six is on the way, with much more drama in tow. **

** -Giz**


	6. The Silent Treatment

**Here's Chapter Six. It's more or less a filler chapter, with a hint of foreshadowing and a few meaningful words from Ryan. Hope you enjoy it. **_

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_Chapter Six: The Silent Treatment_

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"_Silence is the hardest argument to refute." _-Josh Billings

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Ryan's light conversation when the two got home from the hospital was apparently the end of all communication between him and Gabriella. The next morning when Gabriella sauntered into the kitchen, the blonde boy was sitting at the table, sipping on a mug of coffee. He kept his eyes glued to a thick, hardback novel in front of him. _Angels and Demons_, read the glossy spine.

"Good morning," Gabriella said softly.

"'Morning," Ryan replied, still looking at his book.

Not wanting to search the Evans' kitchen for breakfast without asking permission, Gabriella retreated to her room and proceeded to get dressed. As she was braiding her hair, the house phone rang.

_Sharpay-cell,_ read the Caller ID.

The ringing stopped abruptly, and after a few moments, there was a knock on the guest room door.

"Gabriella," called Ryan. "It's for you."

"Gabby!" squealed Sharpay when Gabriella picked up the extension on the bedside table.

"Hey," Gabriella said, rubbing her eardrum with one shoulder. Sharpay's voice had a way of causing pain without contact.

"Are you two doing alright?" Sharpay wanted to know. "Have you eaten breakfast? There are all sorts of bagels in the pantry, you know."

Gabriella strained her ears to hear any noise outside her door. Hoping that Ryan couldn't hear her, she fell back against her pillows and said, "Actually, your brother won't talk to me." She paused. "And I haven't had breakfast yet."

Sharpay made a thoughtful hum. "He's just in one of his moods," she explained matter-of-factly. "He's mad because he thinks you still like Troy."

"From the way he's been acting," Gabriella muttered, "it seems more like he hates my guts and wants to murder me."

"He couldn't murder a _termite_," Sharpay laughed. "He's not the hating type. He just gets in these moods sometimes. Give him a day or two. He'll come around. Trust me."

Gabriella sat up in her bed and hugged her knees. "I hope so," she said quietly, looking down at her toes.

"How's Troy?" she asked suddenly, desperate to change the subject.

"See, this is what I mean," Sharpay burst out. "You're always changing the subject to Troy! That's _exactly _why my brother thinks you-"

"Sharpay," snapped Gabriella. "Just tell my how Troy is doing. _Please._"

"Fine," huffed Sharpay. "He's doing fine. He woke up this morning around 7:30, but they gave him some more painkillers, and he went back to sleep. The doctors told us that he just has a concussion, not a fracture, and his arm will heal normally."

Gabriella pondered on this. Troy was going to be fine. That was good. She could rest easy. Right?

"Great," she said into the phone. "I can't wait to see him once he wakes up. Can you tell me when that'll be?" She had been trying to sound enthusiastic,but it turned out sounding fake and sort of like a Barbie instead.

"Maybe later tonight, maybe tomorrow," Sharpay said vaguely. "I can't say for sure. It depends on when the pain will go down enough to take him off of the medicine. He's pretty beat up, as you saw last night.

_Was that really less than twelve hours ago?_ Gabriella thought, wrinkling her brow. It seemed like a week ago, at the least.

"Well, tell my dear brother hello for me, Gabby," Sharpay giggled. "I have to go. Buh bye!"

"Bye," Gabriella pushed in, but the connection was already dead.

After she finished braiding her hair, Gabriella slipped on a T-shirt over her pajamas and left her bedroom. She reached the kitchen to find Ryan still reading his novel at the table.

"Your sister said to tell you hello," she said coldly, passing over to the pantry. She pulled open the sliding doors and looked in vain for the bagels.

"Oh," Ryan answered indifferently, still not looking up.

Gabriella finally found the bagels on the bottom shelf, next to a can of garbanzo beans. She carried the bag over to the counter next to the sink.

"Do you have any cream cheese, or something?" she asked, turning to face Ryan.

"In the fridge," he answered.

Gabriella started to open the door to the refrigerator, but something stopped her; a feeling rose up in her chest, like a balloon being inflated at breakneck speed.

"Why aren't you talking to me?" she asked, her eyebrows slanting angrily.

Ryan looked up, confused and shocked. "What are you talking about?"

Gabriella set her bagel down on the counter. "You haven't said a thing to me last night, ever since Sharpay and I were talking in here after dinner. What is _up_ with you?"

Ryan stood up, his book in hand, and a hurt expression on his face. "Gabriella," he said plainly. "This isn't junior high school anymore. This is the real world. We're in our twenties now. It's isn't about 'liking someone' or 'having a crush on someone' anymore. It's about love, now. And you know what? Love hurts." He pushed in his chair at the table and turned around to face Gabriella entirely. "You really had me going there, Gabby," he said. "You told me you wanted to end it with Troy. You drove him away. I assumed you really meant it… I guess I was wrong."

As Ryan left the room, Gabriella watched, tears forming in her eyes, her bagel vegetating on the counter.

_I _did_ mean it_, she thought about yelling. But she doubted if Ryan wanted to hear what she had to say.

* * *

The next day was Sunday. Gabriella woke up at 10:00 to find Ryan gone, with a note taped to the fridge.

_Gone to church_, it read. _Be back mid afternoon. Please walk Fiyero for me. -Ryan. _

Gabriella spent most of the morning lying on the sofa, watching The Weather Channel. According to the meteorologist, the Midwestern New Mexico region was in for the storm of the century if the cold front moved according to predictions. Gabriella glanced out the windows in the living room. It was sunny and at least 90 degrees, with a slight breeze to cool things off.

At about 12:00, right after Gabriella had walked the dog, the phone rang in the kitchen. _Sharpay-cell_, the Caller ID read again.

"Sharpay?" Gabriella said into the phone.

"Gabby!" Sharpay sounded extra bubbly. "Guess who's awake?"

"Troy?" Gabriella guessed.

"Yeah! Wanna talk to him?"

Gabriella shook her head, forgetting that Sharpay couldn't see her. "Sharpay," she said in an urgent voice. "I can't keep dealing with your brother like this. He got really mad at me yesterday." With shaking hands, Gabriella went on the recount the entire conversation.

It took a while for Sharpay to answer. When she did speak, it was with a quiet, hesitant voice.

"Do you love Ryan?" she asked slowly.

Gabriella sank down into a kitchen chair. She ran her fingers through her dark, thick hair and wiped a small tear from under her eye.

"I…" she began, but her voice cracked, forcing her to start over.

"Yeah," she said at last. "I think I do."

There was a long moment of silence on each side of the connection. Gabriella looked at the floor and blinked with long and slow intervals.

"You have to tell him," Sharpay urged at last, breaking the silence. "You _have to_. It's all you can do now. He thinks you were lying when you said you didn't like Troy anymore. We have twin telepathy, remember? We know these things."

After they had hung up, Gabriella layed back down on the sofa and cried for a long time.

* * *

**Review, please. **


	7. Dark Horizons

**The drama grows! Yay-ness! You can tell from the quote that this is going to be one dramatic chapter. I hope you enjoy it. **_

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_Chapter Seven: Dark Horizons_

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"_Death is nothing to us, for when we are, death has not come, and when death has come, we are not." -_Epicurus

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Three hours of The E! and the Lifetime Channel later, Gabriella's ears perked at the sound of a doorknob turning.

_Oh, gosh,_ she thought, turning up the volume on the TV until she could hardly hear the footsteps coming through the kitchen. _He's back. _

Gabriella listened over the sounds of a scathing description of Mariah Carey's outfits as Ryan dropped his keys on the kitchen table. She wished that she could meet him at the doorway to the kitchen, holding dozen roses. Wait - did guys even like flowers? Gabriella rubbed her temples with her fingertips and turned down the volume.

"'Morning," she called softly, doubting that Ryan could even hear her.

"'Morning," he replied, erasing her doubts. He sounded cold and remorseful. It was almost pathetic.

Gabriella sank back down onto the sofa and stared meaninglessly at the TV screen. Ryan's footsteps on the front stairs summoned tears to her eyes.

_I won't cry, _she told herself. _I won't turn into a mess. But that's just what I am now! I'm a complete mess! I can't go one second without thinking about either Ryan or Troy, and I can't go a minute without crying, or something. Oh, God! I'm a total _wreck

This is exactly what Gabriella told her mother a few minutes later in the safety of the guest room. Mrs. Montez (or Mrs. Ellsworth, as she was know called at work and by legal people) had practically had a heart attack when she learned that her only child had been traveling without having first told her mother.

"You could have been kidnapped, or something!" she went on with a tragic air.

"Mom," Gabriella urged. "I'm fine, and that's all that matters. Besides, I got to see some old friends. I'm fine. _Okay?_"

As soon as she spilled the part about the Boy Problem™, Jacqueline was on the case. She had met Ryan once at Sharpay's eighteenth birthday party; she had told him that he made good punch, in reference to the fruit punch he had bought from Publix earlier that day. It was traumatizing.

"I can't believe you want _my _help," Gabriella's mom said for the fiftieth time.

"Mom!" Gabriella groaned. "I'm desperate! Just help me! Please!" She felt another wave of tears coming on. Or maybe it was just PMS. One or the other.

"Just tell 'John' how you feel," Jacqueline said. Gabriella felt like a Dear Abby reader, using fake names in her plea. "And if 'Pete' loves 'Beth' like she loves him, then you don't have to worry about 'Pete' anymore, okay?"

Gabriella sighed. "How did you meet dad?" she asked.

"At school in the twelfth grade, Gabby," her mother said. "I've told you the story again and again-"

"How did you meet Steve?" Steve Ellsworth was Gabriella's new step-dad. He had a mustache as big as Gabriella's face.

Jacqueline went off into her Romantic Mom™ mode. "At a neighborhood party," she said dreamily. "He was there with his sister…"

Gabriella still wasn't getting any ideas. "I have to go," she lied quickly. "I'll call back tomorrow."

_Boys might as well be a different species, _Gabriella thought. _And same with moms… or at least _my_ mom.

* * *

_

It was almost dinnertime when Ryan knocked on Gabriella's door. She had been braiding and rebraiding her hair in front of the big mirror, all the while thinking about what she could say to Ryan to make him forget Troy existed at all. So far, the best plan of action she had thought up was to walk up and say to him, "I don't love Troy, okay? I love you, forever and ever. Troy is history." This approach seemed the most believable and down-to-earth.

"Yeah?" called Gabriella, turning to face the door. Ryan turned the knob and poked his head through the opening. His face was straightforward and emotionless.

"Fiyero's out of food," he said. "We need to go to Wal-Mart and get some more."

"Okay," said Gabriella. "See you when you get home."

Ryan stepped cautiously into the room, making sure he didn't step on any stray bras. "_We_ need to go," he repeated. "Sharpay told me to watch out for you. You're coming with me." When Gabriella's face fell, he added, "Whether you like it or not." He almost smiled then, and Gabriella cursed herself for hoping he would.

_He hates me, _she thought.

"Fine," she said heartily. "I'll be right there."

* * *

As Ryan drove out of the driveway, Gabriella in the passenger seat, clouds had already covered the sun from earlier. The wind blew leaves and limbs into a frenzied turmoil. Not many other cars were on the roads, Gabriella noticed. Still, Ryan drove as slowly as usual, maneuvering the car in a granny-like fashion.

The Wal-Mart was at least twenty five minutes away, on the whole other side of Lewisville. By the time they reached the parking lot, the wind was blowing small rain droplets onto the windshield. Gabriella's heart skipped a beat every time she looked up at the swelling clouds above her. They looked black and deadly.

Gabriella tagged along after Ryan as he led her inside the store and back to the pet isle. A bored soccer mom with a buggy full of food was comparing two dog bones, but she was the only other person in sight. Ryan walked right up to the dog food bags and grabbed a bag of Healthy Choice for small to medium dogs. He supported it up against his chest before motioning for Gabriella to follow him to the cash registers.

The thunder was starting up by the time the two left Wal-Mart, and by the time they reached the truck the rain had picked up as well, showing them mercilessly. Gabriella's jeans were soaked up to her ankles as she climbed up into her seat.

"Just our luck," joked Ryan, temporarily possessed with some kind of "be nice to Gabriella" demon, or something. He motioned to the rain and wind plastering the windshield with pinestraw and particles of dirt.

_To think that I could be at the house,_ thought Gabriella, _braiding my hair. Or at my dorm room, studying. Or at home in Albuquerque, watching TV. So many possibilities. _

The sky was so dark that it looked like 9:00 instead of 5:00. The thunder sounded like a bunch of rams hitting the back of the car. Gabriella felt like they had just driven into the ocean from all the rain hitting the car. She found it hard to believe that Ryan could see where he was driving.

"Be careful," she called out over the storm.

"What?" Ryan called back, squinting to see the road.

"I said, 'be careful'!," Gabriella answered, cupping her hands around her mouth.

Ryan didn't answer this time. The road had become completely invisible from all the water.

"I'm going to pull over at the gas station up here," he called out.

"There's a gas station?" Gabriella strained to see through the rain.

"There'd better be," Ryan said with a chuckle. "If there isn't, then we're going in the wrong direction."

He kept his eyes out for any sign of a business by the side of the road, but with no avail. If there really was a gas station, it wasn't close enough to the road to see it.

They drove like this, with strained eyes and jumping hearts, for another five or so minutes. Home was still ten to fifteen minutes down the road, unfortunately. The rain didn't seem to be letting up, and if anything, the thunder was getting louder, and the wind harder. Gabriella closed her eyes clutched her hands together tightly; Ryan's knuckles were white from gripping the steering wheel so tightly.

It was then that they heard the sound.

It was a great cracking noise, like a jackhammer being swung through a plywood wall. It made Gabriella jump in her seat, fully awake, her teeth rattling. Ryan's face went white; he started to turn his head to look out of the back window, but he didn't dare let his eyes stray from the road. Instead, Gabriella turned around, squinting to see through the soaked window. The cracking noise became more of a ripping. Something popped, and sparks showered through the rain. Somewhere in this madness, two and two found each other, and Gabriella whirled back around, horrified.

"Ryan," she said, hoarse. "It's a tree."

The tree seemed to take forever to fall, but as soon as it did Ryan and Gabriella knew it. It hit the bed of the truck with the force of the hurricane this weather had come to resemble. The leaves showered the car, and a few small limbs came to rest on the windshield, Ryan let go of the wheel and turned to face Gabriella, his eyes wide. There was a horrible shattering as the truck finished its decent, and one last limb punctured the back window, pushing its way towards the front of the car. Gabriella felt something sharp and heavy push past her shoulder, and, dazed, she cried out in pain.

"Gabriella!" Ryan screamed. The crackling and shuffling and commotion had all ended, and in the silence, no one answered him, not even a breath or a heartbeat.

His hair full of leaves and twigs, Ryan tired to push away the foliage trapping him in his seat. Several limbs poked into his arms, scratching him. He was bleeding in several places by the time his hand brushed against warm flesh.

"Gabriella!" he called out, moving the tree parts that closed her off in the other side of the car. His heart beat with adrenaline.

Gabriella was alive, which was good; she was just unconscious, and there was no way to tell if she was seriously hurt. Her shoulder was bleeding profusely through the sweatshirt Sharpay had lent her. Her forehead now sported several thin scrapes from the smaller twigs filling up the truck.

Ryan fumbled for his cell phone, stuffed in his back pocket. Flipping it open, he pressed the Power button with enough force to break the phone itself. To his dismay, the screen remained blank. He pressed it again and again, but with no avail.

_I bet this is the one time I left my charger at home, too,_ he thought, reaching down into the ashtray where he usually kept the phone charger. His hand brushed past an empty tray, deepening the painful dread in his chest.

Glancing at Gabriella, however, hurt worse.

_What if she has a concussion, or something?_ Ryan's mind ran through the possibilities. _What if… _

A lump rose up in his throat, a familiar feeling from his middle school years. The last time he had felt it was after his parents' funeral service, when Sharpay broke down and started bawling in front of the whole family. The time before that was in the ninth grade when the football team had thrown him down the stairs next to the cafeteria all because Ryan refused to do Mack Taylor's biology homework, and he (Ryan) had ended up breaking his left leg in two places and seriously bruising his hip bone.

In the driver's seat of his father's hand-me-down truck, with what can only be described as a torrential downpour happening all around, Ryan Evans was forcing back tears.

* * *

**Yes, the big, strong guy is crying. Although I never thought of Ryan Evans as being all that macho. Hmm.**

**So yeah. You know, what? I think I'm just going to go ahead and put up the rest of the dang story, even the epilogue, okay? **

**Yeah. So just click the purple arrow. Wait-- is it even an arrow? Aw, you know what I mean. Read the next chapter. I know you're just _dying_ to. **

**Ha ha ha!!!!**

**(That was evil, maniacal laughter, by the way? Not a good-natured chuckle like it might have come off as.)**


	8. Into the Chaos

**La la la! Here's Chapter Eight, as promised! Enjoy!**_

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_Chapter Eight: Into the Chaos_

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"_Let the fear of danger be a spur to prevent it; he that fears not gives advantage to the danger." -_Francis Quarles

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Fifteen minutes later, Ryan had fallen into a pattern.

First, he would get out of the car and check to see if anyone was coming. While he was outside, he would glance again at the size of the tree and wonder if there was anyway his truck would survive. All soaking wet, Ryan would then get back into the car and jam his keys in, trying time and time again to start it. Upon failure at this, he would attempt to rouse Gabriella, either by calling her name, shoving her good shoulder, dripping water from his jacket onto her face, or just talking to her. Once he was done with this, he would pull his phone out of his pocket and try once more to call 911. He was well aware that none of this was actually doing anything to his and Gabriella's advantage, but at least it made him feel productive.

On his third trip outside, Ryan was surprised and delighted to hear a faint moaning coming from inside the vehicle.

"Gabriella?" he cried, scrambling to climb back inside the front of the truck, which was slightly elevated from the weight of the tree on the truck bed.

"Ryan?" Gabriella mumbled, rubbing her head with her good shoulder; her other arm remained limp in her lap, the blood from her shoulder starting to run down her arm, staining her entire sleeve.

"What happened?" she wanted to know. She blinked hard and looked around at the leaves and limbs surrounding her like a horizontal forest.

"A tree fell on our car," Ryan said hesitantly. "You've been unconscious for about twenty minutes… Are you alright?"

Gabriella rubbed her eyes and blinked again. For the first time, her right hand moved over to her left shoulder. She recoiled quickly and, seeing blood smeared across her hand, she turned to face Ryan, a surprised look on her face.

"One of the branched cut your arm," he replied. "D… Does it hurt?"

"Only a little bit," Gabriella said with a faint smile.

The two sat for several moments, just looking at the interior of the truck and the area around it. The rain had let up, and the storm had moved on, leaving only a soaked road and several down trees.

"The car won't start," Ryan said dismally. "I tried. And the tree is way to big to move by myself."

"Do you have your phone with you?" Gabriella asked. "I left mine in my room. I assumed we'd be right back…"

"Mine's out of battery," Ryan reported. "I don't have my charger."

Gabriella hummed in thought. "I guess we'll have to walk, then," she said. Bending over in her seat, she winced at the pain in her body. "I can't reach it," she groaned.

"What?" Ryan looked around for her purse or something

"The dog food," she said. "I can't reach it."

Ryan had to laugh. "You are impossible," he teased, helping Gabriella move the branches enough to crawl across to his seat; the passenger door opened right next to the downed power lines.

With close to no rain and the storm having moved on over, the night was almost peaceful. Ryan took off his jacket and wrapped it around Gabriella's shoulders. Gabriella blushed at his gesture and hid her face in the rain-drenched but comfortable hood of the jacket; could this be the right time to talk to him?

"So," she said softly. "Does this mean you don't hate me anymore?" Ryan's eyes went wide as he whirled to face Gabriella.

"Hate you?" he asked, raising his eyebrows. "I _never_ hated you…"

"Oh." Gabriella felt sort of stupid. "You weren't talking to me, and then we had that argument in the kitchen yesterday…"

"Gabriella," Ryan said, turning to face her. "I never hated you. I promise."

"So why did you avoid me these past two days?" she shot back.

Ryan sighed. "I was just giving you your space," he explained. "I… I didn't want to annoy you, or anything. I assumed that the other afternoon in the foyer was just a one-time thing, and you still…"

"You thought I still loved Troy," Gabriella clarified, summing up the whole story.

"Basically," replied Ryan with a casual nod. "But I'm guessing from that look you're giving me that I was horribly wrong…"

Gabriella laughed openly. "I don't love Troy that way," she assured Ryan. "I was just worried about him that day at the hospital, okay?"

Ryan smiled. "I believe you," he said, and Gabriella couldn't help but blush again.

"Good," she said, trailing off a bit. She had taken care of that discussion. Now what?

_You have to tell him_, said Sharpay's voice in Gabriella's head. _It's all you can do…_

"Ryan?" Gabriella's hands were trembling; she found herself wishing that Ryan would just reach over and grab them.

"Yeah?"

"I…" Gabriella stuttered. "I'm really glad I chose to stay with you and Sharpay. Even if I thought you hated me for most of the time I've been here. But now I know you don't, and everything's cool."

"Yeah, cool," Ryan agreed, one blonde eyebrow raised in perplexity.

_Oh, gosh, _Gabriella thought frantically. _Here I go. Rambling. My specialty. _

"What I'm trying to say is," she went on, "that I'm glad you don't hate me because I don't hate you. At all. Quite the opposite, actually." Ryan's face lit up. Was it just Gabriella, or was he enjoying her difficulty a bit too much?"

"I… I really…" Gabriella felt her heart skip a beat. _Here it comes,_ she told herself. _The grand finale…_

"I love you!" she shouted out as hastily as possible. Ryan appeared slightly blown backwards by her sudden cry, as though the wind from her lungs had literally almost knocked him over. He also, however, had an amused look on his face.

"Could you repeat that?" he requested, a chuckle in his voice.

Gabriella took a large, reluctant breath, feeling the humid air enter her lungs. "I love you, Ryan," she repeated coldly. "You heard me the first time. I. Love. You. Okay?" Gabriella was beginning to think this had been a bad idea, and perhaps Ryan had been lying when he told his sister how he felt about their visitor. Or maybe it was Sharpay who had been lying, and there had never been any such discussion… How would Gabriella ever know?

Actually, she found out only a second or so later when the boy in question leaned over and, to say the least, covered her mouth with his own, laying such a kiss on her that she actually felt like her entire body was being lifted off the ground by the force. She was delighted to find that the interior of her eyelids were sporting the cliché fireworks she had spent her entire teenaged existence reading about. Alongside these fireworks was a sensation of the ground beneath her disappearing, as though she was infinitely tall; as though she stretched on forever.

Her heart was leaping and her head was spinning by the time they pulled apart, after an excruciating _x_ number of minutes. Ryan looked down at Gabriella with a gentle smile and a soft, caring look in his eyes.

"I've been wanting to do that since we were in the eleventh grade," he said softly.

"Then why didn't you?" Gabriella unhooked herself from Ryan's neck.

"Troy could pummel me any day of the week," Ryan laughed. "If I had gone for you then, think of all the broken bones!"

"He wouldn't beat you up," said Gabriella. "He's not that kind of guy." She leaned over into Ryan's body, and he wrapped one arm around her shoulders. She hummed in comfort, smiling at the warm, butterfly feeling in her lower abdomen.

* * *

The truck had actually taken them farther than they had thought; in a matter of only ten to fifteen minutes of steady walking, their hands intertwined, the "Welcome to Lewisville" sign rose up from behind the shaken, wind-blown trees. From that point on it was a mere ten minutes to the end of the Evans' twins'driveway.

"Here we are," Ryan said, peering down the eerily lit path to the house. He ruffled his blonde hair and looked down at Gabriella. The moon made her black eyes light up and appear every color possible. He took her hand and grasped it with his own before starting down the drive.

"Ryan?" Gabriella said softly as they reached the house. Tall, narrow light from the upstairs rooms cast long squares of yellow across the wet lawn.

"Yeah?" Ryan sensed something beneath the surface in her voice.

"Do you have they keys to the house?"

Ryan opened his mouth to say something, but all that came was a clenched, slightly forced smile. "Oh," he muttered. "I didn't…" The expression collapsed into a fit of muffled laughter, however, and before long he and Gabriella found themselves sprawled on the porch swing, grinning gaily and waiting for somebody to arrive home.

"Sharpay's at the hospital," said Ryan suddenly. "Why didn't I think of it before? _Gosh_, it might be tomorrow before she gets home!"

There was still a laugh in his voice, though, and it made Gabriella smile. She had just done so when a muffled sound startled her.

"I found them!" Sharpay cried at someone unseen before throwing the front door open and storming onto the deck.

"Oh my gosh!" she squealed. "I was so worried!" She scrambled to the swing, her bare feet padding on the brick floor. She threw her arms around her brother, who nearly lifted her off the ground in response, and then around Gabriella, who took the embrace awkwardly. There was only one thought in the girl's mind at the moment: _How do I tell Sharpay I made out with her twin brother on a deserted road less than an hour ago?_

The blonde girl welcomed her brother and Gabriella into the house, where they were greeted by the surprising sight of a flurried and desperate Mrs. Bolton.

"Oh," she sighed, nearly falling to her knees. "Thank goodness!"

"You were that worried?" Ryan asked his sister under his breath.

"Totally," she replied. "The sirens were going off all over where we were, and on the way back we saw what I could have sworn was your truck…"

"Underneath a tree?" Ryan's heart skipped. It came to mind that the only way back from the hospital included passing the fallen tree.

"Yeah." Sharpay's eyebrows slanted down in concern. "It was raining too hard to tell, but when I saw that your car wasn't home, I _freaked_. We were actually about to call the police when you walked up." She paused. "I thought you were dead. I really did. Just ask Troy's mom; I was beside myself, especially since the last time we really talked was when we were arguing on the way to the hospital."

The twins shared a smile before looking back over at their guests. Mrs. Bolton was trying to drag Gabriella off to the kitchen to fix her something hot to drink.

"I'll take car of it, Mrs. Bolton," Ryan offered. He turned to his sister, a "don't ask; you already know," look on his pale face. She understood immediately and said no more.

Ryan took Gabriella's arm and led her into the kitchen; he flipped the light switch as he walked in.

"So…" said Gabriella, leaning against the kitchen counter. A smile played on her rosy lips. "I'm guessing we aren't in here for hot chocolate…"

* * *

**So wasn't that romantic? **

**Three words: They're. In. Love. **

**Yay-sie!!!!!**

**Oh gosh, now I sound like that girl Kay Panabaker plays on _Phil of the Future..._**


	9. Silence After the Storm

**I hope you like fluff, becasue that's just what this chapter is! Pure, lo-cal fluff! Enjoy!**_

* * *

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_Chapter Nine: Silence After the Storm_

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* * *

_

"_Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit." _-Peter Ustinov

* * *

"Hmm… Draw four, and the color is going to be… yellow."

Gabriella slapped the Draw Four card down onto the teetering stack in front of her and flashed Ryan a devious smile.

"Well, if that's how you want to play," Ryan said back as he added four cards to his already gigantic array. It seemed as though a baby's breath could knock them all out of his hand.

"You're hopeless," Gabriella laughed. She leaned back in her patio chair, tossing her black hair over one shoulder.

It was Wednesday, three days after the car crash, and most of the damage had been corrected, save Ryan's car. The weather had been picture-perfect ever since that night (Was it the weather? Or was it just the mood?), and Ryan and Gabriella were taking advantage of it. For the time being, they were seated out on the back porch, sweating in the hot sun and slapping Uno cards down onto the patio table.

Ryan laid his cards facedown on the table and smiled at Gabriella. His blonde hair was made golden by the light, and his face seemed to radiate.

"Well?" Gabriella tried to fake a frown. "The color's yellow. Go on."

"Nah." Ryan leaned back, emulating Gabriella's posture. "I'd rather sit here and look at you for a few minutes instead."

"Why all the sudden flirting?" Gabriella wanted to know. She looked at Ryan underneath dark, sultry eyebrows.

"Well," the boy explained. "I figure that with lover boy getting back this afternoon, my chances are less than guaranteed. I might as well snag you while you're still game." Though he managed to keep a relatively straight face, Gabriella giggled and tossed her hair again.

"Ryan, you _nerd_!" she teased. "_You're _lover boy now, remember?"

"All I'm saying," Ryan said with a shake of his head, "is that with Troy coming home later, anything can happen. Don't think I haven't seen that boy's hair…"

Adding to the perfect mood, Troy had been admitted out of the hospital earlier that morning. Mrs. Bolton had driven down to Lewisville to pick up Sharpay. Instead of taking him back to his own house, Mrs. Bolton had had the idea that Sharpay could look after Troy for a while. Apparently, he was supposed to benefit from living with his best friends. Gabriella had never particularly understood the reasoning. All she knew was that her ex was going to be living in the same house as her, her new boyfriend (well, close enough), and the aforementioned new boyfriend's sister, who was in love with Gabriella's ex.

What a small world.

"So," Ryan said, moving his cards around with one hand. "I was thinking, maybe we could go out to breakfast-"

"At noon-"

"At Tiffany's."

* * *

It had been only a week since their last trip to Tiffany's, but already Gabriella felt as though she had been through a world of change. Doreen sat it the very back of the visible part of the kitchen, a cigarette cupped behind one hand. Her eyes followed Ryan as he led Gabriella towards an empty booth. If Gabriella hadn't known better, she would have though Doreen was smiling.

This time, Ryan didn't blush. He just held onto Gabriella and kept walking.

"So," he said as they sat down at their booth. "How about some pancakes?"

* * *

Fifteen minutes and approximately seven pounds of fluffy, browned goodness later, Gabriella settled back into her seat and rubbed at a spot of syrup on her T-shirt.

"Well," she joked. "This breakfast has left a permanent mark." She pointed to the stain. "That, and I don't think I'll ever be able to run off this weight." Gabriella patted her stomach like a pregnant woman.

"I, for one," said Ryan, "feel _great."_ He lifted his hands behind his head and looked casually out the window. "Pancakes are probably my favorite food. Always have been…" He trailed off suddenly, though, his hazel eyes following some unseen object outside. Gabriella turned her head sharply, and her eyes went wide.

It was Sharpay. And on her arm was Troy.

_Oh, God. _Gabriella's thoughts went into Panic Mode. She felt her hands start shaking. _They're back? _a voice said in her mind. _It's only one o' clock!_

"Gabriella?" Ryan noticed his (girl) friend's reaction and looked over at her. "Are you okay?" Gabriella just looked back at his with her black eyes and chewed on her bottom lip.

"I…" She couldn't speak. Troy was coming in the restaurant. Sharpay was saying something to him. He was smiling. _Please don't look this way_, she thought. "I don't know…"

"It's just Troy, Gabriella," Ryan said. "You dated him for seven years. Just pretend that nothing's wrong, okay? You'll be alright." He smiled. "Really."

Gabriella took a deep breath and looked down at her lap. "Okay," she said in a small voice.

"Ryan? Gabby?" Sharpay squealed semi-blaringly. "Hi!"

Gabriella pretended not to watch as Troy whirled around, quick as a whip, and nearly stumbled at the sight of his (ex) girlfriend sitting down to pancakes with a boy who used to wear multi-colored dress pants and odd hats to school. It apparently hadn't really hit him yet: Gabriella was in love with Ryan. Ryan was in love with her. They were in love.

_Get over it,_ Gabriella thought as the couple walked over towards the booth.

"Gabby…" Troy said awkwardly. His arm was a sling, and his face still had a few cuts on it. His hair was no longer matted with dried blood, thank goodness.

"Troy," Gabriella responded.

"You two," Sharpay broke in, pointing to Gabriella and Troy. "Go outside and talk. Now." Her voice was harsh, but she had a smug grin on her face. One French-manicured talon pointed out the door.

Gabriella groaned inwardly: there was no way out of this one.

That was particularly how three minutes later, Gabriella and Troy were standing in the Tiffany's parking lot, staring at the pavement. Troy fiddled with his sling. Gabriella twisted a strand of hair around one finger.

_What a lively conversation_, she thought mockingly.

"So," Troy said at last. "Sharpay said you were ' beside yourself' at the hospital that night." His tone was somewhat hopeful, like perhaps at his words Gabriella would suddenly leap into his arms and declare her undying devotion to him.

"I get weak at the sight of blood," Gabriella lied quickly. "It's a curse."

Troy looked crestfallen. His face actually sagged, looking even sadder when covered with all the tiny scratches.

"Oh," he said. There was a moment of silence. "My parents are buying me a new car," he said. "Another SUV, they said."

"Good for you," Gabriella muttered, looking even farther to her left.

"Yeah," Troy added. He paused again. "Sharpay said that you and Ryan got into a car accident too. Are you okay?"

Gabriella shrugged; her heart froze up at Ryan's name. "I guess," she answered, trying to act aloof. With any luck Troy would leave her alone and go back inside the restaurant. Back to his beloved Sharpay.

_Gosh! _Gabriella thought angrily. _What the heck is my problem? Why can't I just talk to him? _She had no idea of the answer. She just knew that things were never going to be the same. Maybe she would never speak to him again. _That's unfair, _she told herself. _He didn't do anything._ An image flashed through her brain, however. She saw a blur of pink and blonde, a dash of brown and grey, a few swirls of tan skin. She felt the carpet of the Evans' hallway beneath her toes. _There's the problem,_ Gabriella thought. Troy had still been her boyfriend at that moment in time. He had cheated first…

"Gabby," Troy said suddenly, breaking a growing silence. "I can't just sit here and not say anything. Sharpay told us to talk, so let's talk!"

"Fine," Gabriella mumbled. "Start talking."

"I did," he answered. "I asked you about the wreck. What happened?" There was a burning urgency in his eyes. It wasn't about the wreck. It was about Gabriella. It was about Gabriella and Ryan.

Troy was still in love with Gabriella.

Gabriella froze and stuttered under his stare. "It was… it was scary, I guess. We… Ryan's truck got stuck under a tree. I don't really remember anything else. I was unconscious most of the time."

"What about Ryan?" Troy tried to make it sound casual, like he was simply concerned for his friend.

"He was worried sick." Gabriella was relieved that the words were coming easier now. "His phone was dead, and mine was at the house, so he couldn't call for help."

Troy nodded. It was apparent what he was thinking: _He couldn't call for help? The loser! I could have taken care of her better. Much better…_

Gabriella shifted and looked back out across the street, ending her part of the conversation, trying her hardest not to meet Troy's gaze. He, however, wasn't done.

"Gabby," he said suddenly. "Talk to me. We can't go on like this. We used to be best friends, remember? Now tell me what's wrong!"

"Nothing's wrong," Gabriella protested.

"So why are you acting like this?"

"Like what?"

"Distant. Cold. _Rude_."

"I am _not_ being rude!"

"Yes, you are, Gabby. Now tell me _why_."

"No reason. I told you already."

"And I didn't believe you. Now tell me what's wrong." Troy stopped, exhausted. His breath rose and fell with a steady, sprinting speed. "Tell me," he said, his voice weak and urgent. Gabriella felt her heart swell for him, this broken, lonely boy. This gorgeous, broken boy whose girlfriend, who's best friend in the whole world, had dumped him. And for some boy who once wore green pants to school. Green Pants. On a boy. What a mess Troy must be.

"Troy," Gabriella said softly. "I love him. I am in love with Ryan Evans."

Troy's whole body seemed to sink in a little. He steadied himself with his feet and looked Gabriella straight in the eye. He was a boy. A man. He had to take this on strong. Gabriella was momentarily glad she was a girl. They could run and cower behind things without attracting attention.

"Okay," Troy said. That was it. Two syllables. His eyes expressed all else. Gabriella was overwhelmed when she looked into them. Had anyone's eyes ever looked so bright and sad?

"And Troy?" Gabriella went on, her voice as steady as possible.

"Yeah?" He could take anything now.

"Sharpay is in love with you."

Troy didn't look surprised. He actually looked relieved. Not openly, though. It was more of a subtle "I'm-too-sad-right-now-to-show-this-sudden-happiness" kind of relieved. But he did show it a little.

"Oh," he said. "Sharpay." He said her name as though he was getting used to it.

The air between them changed. It seemed thinner. Gabriella could breathe.

Taking in an aforementioned breath, she looked up at Troy. "Friends?" she said, sticking out her hand.

"Friends," Troy agreed, laying his hand on Gabriella's. It might have been her imagination, but he left it there a little too long.

* * *

"Troy, could you pass me the biscuits, please?"

Gabriella watched with interest and trepidation as Troy handed Sharpay the woven basket of dinner biscuits. She had seen some downright bizarre things in all of her twenty two years (She had, after all, been through high school), but never had she experienced anything like this.

"Great fish, sis'," Ryan said, motioning to the salmon on his plate, a bite of which he had just swallowed. Troy nodded in agreement; his plate was almost cleared.

"After a week of eating only hospital food," he commented, "this is like heaven."

"I'd imagine so," Sharpay laughed, flipping her blonde hair. Ryan turned towards Gabriella and gave her a look that said, "She's got it _bad_."

"So Troy," Sharpay said, making conversation. "What kind of car are your parents getting you?"

Gabriella tuned out the conversation a this point. Apparently, Ryan was doing the same thing: he put down his fork and stood up.

"I'll do dishes," he offered, grabbing his and Gabriella's empty plates.

"I'll help," Gabriella added, following Ryan over to the sink. They watched as Troy and Sharpay talked. From where they stood, there was definitely something in Troy's eyes as he listened to Sharpay's words.

"I think this is going to work out just fine," Gabriella whispered to Ryan.

* * *

**This story is coming to a close. I have one chapter and an epilogue left to put up. I hope you've enjoyed it!**


	10. Crash and Burn

**Okay, so I lied: there's still one more chapter after this one before the epilogue. As you can tell from the title of this chapter, all good things have to end. But can it bee repaired? Heck, you don't know. You haven't even read the chapter, yet. So read it! Now!**_

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_Chapter Ten: Crash and Burn_

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"_Change is the constant, the signal for rebirth, the egg of the phoenix." ­_-Cristina Baldwin

* * *

"I really do love him," Gabriella told her mother a week later. It was about twelve o' clock at night, and she was lying on the guest bed, dressed in a new pair of pajamas Sharpay had bought her in a recent shopping trip, with her cell phone pressed against her cheek.

"I'm glad you love him, dear," Jacqueline said. "I can't wait to meet him." Her voice was slightly exasperated: Gabriella hadn't stopped telling her this same thing for the entire fifteen minutes they had been on the phone.

"Maybe I'll bring him with me when I come back," Gabriella said with a dreamy sigh. "But you saw him once already. _Romeo and Juliet_, twelfth grade. He was Mercutio, remember?"

"Vaguely," Jacqueline answered. She had a foggy image of the boy, now. Tall, blonde, kind, a great actor. She knew how much acting meant to her daughter. Far more than basketball, that was for sure. Perhaps this boy _was_ right for Gabriella.

"Honey," she said at last. "You're cell phone bill will rack up as a small fortune if you keep this up. Maybe you should hang up."

"Okay, Mom," Gabriella slurred. "Love you. Bye." She pressed the Power button on her phone and, rolling over on one side, placed it gently on her nightstand. Everything was going great for once. Living with the Evans' and Troy was actually sort of fun. There were three different people to chose from. She could go shopping with Sharpay, let Troy try and teach her basketball (She was actually pretty decent, or so Troy said.), or she could sit around and talk to (and make out with) Ryan. The latter was her favorite option, by far.

Turning off the lamp, Gabriella pulled the covers up over her head and nestled down into the bed. The ceiling fan hummed above her, and crickets chirped outside of the windows. As Gabriella drifted off to sleep, her mind thought back to high school, to the twelfth grade…

_Eighteen-year-old Gabriella listened with satisfaction as her heels clicked angrily on the white, tile floors of East High School. Her eyes narrowing, she whipped around the corner to her locker. After taking out the needed books, she slammed the door as loudly as she found possible. _

"_Gosh!" She let out a fast, hard breath and looked up at the ceiling. She hadn't a single memory of ever being so angry. _

"_Gabriella?" A small voice from behind her nearly caused her to drop her Calculus book onto her foot. _

"_Ryan?" She whirled around to see the blonde boy standing there, a sheepish, confused look on his pale face. "I didn't see you there…"_

"_It's okay," he said. "No one ever does." He smiled a little. "I'm invisible… So, do you mind telling me why you just slammed your locker door?" _

_Gabriella furrowed her brow. What was Ryan Evans doing trying to talk to her, anyways? While Gabriella had started trying to be friends with his sister, Sharpay, Ryan was a different story. However, he _was_ Sharpay's twin brother, and he _had_ seen me get angry. He deserved some sort of explanation. _

"_Me and Troy got in a little bit of a fight," Gabriella said slowly. "I just need to cool off a little." Pause. "He planned this big, nice Last Date of High School for the two of us, but now he had to cancel it because of his basketball friends. They want to go to a movie, or something stupid. It just made me angry."_

"_Don't feel bad about getting angry with him," said Ryan, shaking his head. "It's alright. He shouldn't have canceled your date."_

_Gabriella considered this for a moment before looking up at Ryan. "I guess you're right," she said with a smile. _

"_Just talk to him," Ryan suggested. "Tell him you're mad. He'll listen. He loves you, remember?"_

_Gabriella nodded and rearranged the books in her arms. "Yeah. I guess he does." On that note, she turned to walk away. "Thanks, Ryan."_

"_You're welcome," he whispered, his eyes wide with adoration as Gabriella trooped off down the hallway…

* * *

_

Gabriella was the last one into the kitchen the next morning. She had pulled a T-shirt over her tank top and had pulled her hair up into a messy bun.

"'Morning," Sharpay called cheerfully from the refrigerator, where she was looking in vain for the new tub of cream cheese she had purchased the day before.

"Troy, have you seen my cream cheese?" she called over to Troy, who was seated handsomely in a kitchen chair, dressed in red basketball shorts and his navy blue junior prom T-shirt.

"Nope." Troy glanced up from the Sports page of the newspaper and met Gabriella's eyes. "Hey," he said with a smile. "What's up?"

"I slept too good," Gabriella said, laughing a little bit. She joined Sharpay in front of the refrigerator.

"No such thing," Sharpay exclaimed, having finally found the cream cheese; she placed it on the counter, next to the bag of bagels. "Sleep's _always_ a good thing. Don't the words 'beauty sleep' mean anything to you?"

Troy chuckled and took the last sip of his 1 milk. "Girls," he said softly.

"Hey!" Sharpay narrowed her eyes playfully. Gabriella, however, wasn't paying attention.

"Where's-" she began, but Sharpay interrupted.

"Lover Boy?" she offered. Gabriella noticed that Troy stiffened at Sharpay's words.

"Uh, yeah..." she answered. "Ryan."

"My brother left about half an hour ago," said Sharpay, moving over the kitchen table with her breakfast, now arranged on a plastic plate.

"Oh," Gabriella said with a nod. "Did he say…" She trailed off as Sharpay shook her head, slightly too quickly.

"He didn't tell me anything," said Sharpay. She took a bite of her bagel and looked down vaguely at the newspaper. "So I was thinking, maybe we could just relax today," she added suddenly. "Maybe swim, or something. Gabby? Does that sound good?"

"Sure," Gabriella replied. "Great."

* * *

After breakfast, Gabriella trooped back to her room and changed into a black two-piece she had bough on one her and Sharpay's recent outings. She washed her face, combed her hair into a side ponytail, and put on a barely noticeable amount of waterproof mascara. The thermometer in the back window of the guestroom read ninety-five degrees as Gabriella walked past it, searching for a pair of flip flops to match her bathing suit.

"_Let the good times roll…"_

Gabriella nearly leapt out of her skin when her cell phone, still on her nightstand, started ringing. She pounce on her bed and stretched to grab it before the caller hung up.

"Hello?" she asked, out of breath, as soon as she pressed the device to her ear.

Gabriella felt her heart swell at the voice of Taylor McKessie, her best friend from high school. "Taylor!" she squealed. "Hey! I can't believe we've gone so long without talking!"

"Neither can I," Taylor said with a sigh. "I feel like it's been years." It had, in truth, only been a month, but Gabriella felt the same way. She had been through so many crazy things these past couple of weeks that she had nearly forgotten anything else existed.

"So how are you?" Gabriella asked, falling back onto her bed. The air from the ceiling fan blew the ends of her ponytail into her face.

"Never better," Taylor answered, excitement brewing in her voice. "I have exciting news! Guess."

"Uh…" Gabriella hated guessing games. "Tell me."

"Chad and I are getting married!"

All thoughts and feelings escaped Gabriella's head. Married? She couldn't have said that. Perhaps she said ferried. Chad and Taylor were going somewhere by ferry. That was it.

"He proposed last night," Taylor continued, confirming Gabriella's fears. "Isn't it great?"

"Yeah," Gabriella squealed, trying to sound genuinely happy. And she _was_ happy. Really. She was just stunned. Why hadn't she been keeping better track of her friends' lives? "I'm _so_ happy for you! When'd the wedding?"

"We haven't decided exactly," Taylor rambled. "But we think it's going to be early next spring." Gabriella's mind wandered. Next spring… What would she be doing then? It seemed like a eternity away.

"So what have _you_ been doing?" Taylor wanted to know. All at once, Gabriella found herself spilling the entire story: her surprise visit to her mom, meeting Sharpay by the side of the road, breaking up with Troy, almost getting crushed by a giant tree… The only thing she didn't mention was falling head over heels for a guy who used to wear weird hats to school. True, he was a Greek god on earth now, but Taylor didn't know that.

"Woah," Taylor said in awe. "Your living with the Evans' twins and your now-ex-boyfriend… That's heavy. I feel for you."

Gabriella laid back into her pillows again. Too bad she couldn't bring herself to tell Taylor about the heaviest part of all…

* * *

Gabriella walked down to the pool with marriage on her mind. _Taylor's getting married_, she couldn't help thinking over again. Her heart swelled even larger upon seeing Sharpay and Troy, decked out in swimwear, seated on the pool chairs. Sharpay's hair looked even blonder in the sunlight.

"I'll go get some lemonade," Sharpay, dressed in a yellow and pink bikini, said as soon as Gabriella traipsed down the stairs from the porch. She leapt up and skipped past Gabriella, who was wearing a look of dazed apathy along with her bathing suit.

"Hey," Troy called. His black trunks drew even more attention to his defined abdominal muscles.

"Hi," Gabriella answered. She sank into the pool chair next to him, wincing a little at the sun-heated material on her bare thighs.

"You okay?" Troy was squinting in the direct sun; Gabriella was thankful that she had remembered her fake Prada sunglasses.

"Have you talked to Chad in a while?" she asked suddenly.

"Nah," Troy replied, shaking his head. "Why?"

"Taylor called me while I was getting changed. They're engaged."

Troy's face lit up, and not just due to the sun. "Really? That's great!" He sat up in his chair. "When did he propose?"

"Last night," Gabriella went on. "I didn't wait to hear all the details, though."

"Cool," Troy exclaimed with a nod. "I'll call Chad later." The porch door slammed as Sharpay came back outside with a tray of glasses.

"Come and get 'em!" she called, setting the tray down on the porch table. Gabriella walked after Troy up the stairs, her bare feet scalded by the hot wood.

_Taylor's getting married. _

_What about me?

* * *

_

Ryan didn't come home until almost dinner time. Even then, he barely said a word to anyone: he just kissed his sister on the cheek, kissed Gabriella on the lips, and, after a meaningful nod to Troy, ran off upstairs. No one said anything about it, so Gabriella didn't bother to ask. Apparently, there was some inner plot here that she didn't know about.

He did come down for dinner, which was a brilliant array of enchiladas, and churros for desert. Gabriella felt a pang of homesickness as she sat down beside Sharpay and picked up her fork. After a quick prayer from the cook, the foursome dug in. Well, three of them did. Gabriella more or less poked at her enchilada for a few minutes before taking a tiny bite and downing it with a sip of water. No one noticed; or if they did, they chose not to speak up.

That night, Gabriella excused herself from dishes and retreated into her room, where she dug her suitcase from the closet and, with a growing idea in her mind, began filling it with clothes, old and new. She was holding a shimmery tank top in her hands when she noticed a shaggy, brunette head of hair in her doorway.

"Troy?" She could hardly bring herself to speak. With a flurry of panicked movement, she tried to hide the scene of escape playing out on her bed.

"Sharpay wants to go out for ice cream," he said, "but I guess you're too busy packing. What should I tell her?" He sauntered over and sat down next to a pile of blue jeans. His expression was inquisitive yet troubled.

"I…" Gabriella stammered. "I'm just… I'd better be getting home to my mom and my step-dad, so I thought I'd leave in the morning…" She trailed off on the last few words. Troy's face had given way to a look of concern.

"I know someone who'll sure be upset," he said.

Gabriella shook her head and wrung her hands in her lap. "They've been great to me," she said, "but they've been living without me for, like, all their lives, practically, so I don't think it'll be much of a change if I just-"

"I was talking about Ryan," Troy interrupted.

Gabriella's face fell into a crestfallen slump. "Oh," she said, her voice stricken and tired. "Yeah. Ryan. That never would have worked, anyways. He'll get over it, I'm sure."

"Gabby…" Troy narrowed his eyes at Gabriella. "You don't want this. I can tell."

"I can't stay here, Troy," Gabriella protested. "I feel like I don't really belong anymore-"

"Fine," Troy said at last. He stood up, denoting surrender. "I get it. You think you have no future here. You think that it's an accident that you ended up here. You think that you shouldn't just rush into something. But hey! I'm not going to tell you you're wrong." He put one foot out of the room. "I am, however, going to tell you that you'd better say bye to Ryan before you leave."

Gabriella watched as he left. As soon as she was sure he had left earshot, she punched the mattress and tossed the tank top she had been holding clear across the room.

* * *

"She's leaving," Troy said quietly as soon as he stepped through the threshold to the kitchen. Sharpay nearly dropped her purse, which she had been rummaging through for some Dentyne gum. Ryan clenched his jaw and tried not to move another muscle.

"What?!" Sharpay hissed, her own jaw dropping.

"She's leaving in the morning," Troy repeated. "She thinks she doesn't belong here anymore."

"Well, she thought wrong!" Sharpay was on a roll. "I'm gonna march right back in there and tell her, either she stays, or she pays. Ryan, Troy, back me up."

"Shar," said Ryan, placing a hand on his sister's shoulder. "Troy already tried."

"She seemed pretty determined," Troy commented in agreement.

Sharpay shook her head and dropped her purse loudly onto the kitchen counter. "You can't let her go like that!" she said to her brother. "You love her! You love her and you're letting her go!"

"You sound like a country song," Ryan laughed. "Really. If she wants to leave, I'm not going to stop her."

Sharpay leaned against the counter and sighed. "But what about-"

"It's no big deal," Ryan cut in. "I'll save it for someone else."

"But you said she was The One!" Sharpay argued.

Troy smiled. "More than once, I might add."

Ryan shrugged. "I thought so. But I've been wrong-"

"A lot," Sharpay interrupted. "… Are you sure you're going to be alright?"

"Yeah," Ryan assured his sister. "I'll be okay."

He smiled a big, fake smile and walked out of the room. As he reached the den, his eyes lingered on the door to the guest room, and that was when he made a decision:

If Gabriella was leaving, then he'd just have to go after her.

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**Review, please!**


	11. The Happy Ending

**Here it is! The last chapter! More fluff, and a bit rushed, I'll admit, but HERE IT IS! I'm so excited I can't sit down! Really. I'm standing up. Good thing we have a tall computer desk...**_

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_Chapter Eleven: The Happy Ending_

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"_Cherish all your happy moments: they make a fine cushion for old age." ­_-Christopher Morley

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Gabriella left the house at eight the next morning. Her tire had been changed, thanks to Ryan, and her luggage had been reduced to one, easy to carry suitcase. All in all, she hoped she could make a quiet exit. Having not followed Troy's "say goodbye" advice, Gabriella was hoping not to awaken any residents who might pose a threat to her resolute decision.

She pulled out of the driveway at 8:04, her eyes set firmly on the road ahead, and her hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly that they were turning white.

"_I'll be home by dinner," _she had told her mother before she went to bed the night before. Her voice had been unctuous and unbelieving. On a high note, though, she would be home just as she had promised.

_You don't want to do this, _said a voice in Gabriella's head.

"Shut up, Troy," she hissed as the yellow-sided house disappeared from her rear-view mirror.

The day was already sunny and beautiful, even as Gabriella left the endless driveway and pulled onto the main road. Her tires creaked over the gravel, and she pulled down the sun shade to keep herself from squinting. Something in her heart told her that she was making a mistake, but her own will overpowered it.

_You'd better say bye to Ryan before you leave,_ said Troy's voice, but Gabriella pushed it back out. She had made up her mind. She didn't, after all, want to rush things. What had she been thinking in the first, place, falling in love with someone she had only truly known for a couple of weeks? It was absurd, really. Gabriella was smarter than that. She had been one of the best kids in her class, ever since elementary school. She wasn't going to wind up a married twenty-two year old who had yet to have finished college.

Married. Who said anything about married? Feeling a blush of embarrassment creep across her face, Gabriella pushed the word out of her mind. She wasn't married. No. Not even close.

Yet somehow, she felt she had been thinking wishfully when the word had entered her mind. Had she?

Gabriella shook her head as she pulled off the gravel road and onto the paved street that housed the creepy-looking church, the Laundromat, and…

…and Tiffany's.

Gabriella slowed the car and turned on her left blinker. What harm could another stack of pancakes and some coffee do before she hit the road?

The air felt brisk for summer as she slammed the car door shut and, stuffing her keys into her jeans pocket, crossed the parking lot to the restaurant. A deep feeling in her gut alerted her brain: was it hunger, or was it premonition. Gabriella sucked back trepidation as she entered the syrup-smelling, air-conditioned building. Maybe this was the right place to sort out her feelings.

Everything reminded her of Ryan. This horror hit Gabriella the second she walked up to the counter and saw Doreen, coughing up a lung thanks to one too many cigarettes. The old woman gave Gabriella a meaningful glance before turning to one of the employees, a young man with a soul patch, and saying, "Give that young woman a window seat."

Seated next to the cold window, Gabriella took in a deep breath. She went through the motions of ordering a cup of coffee (no pancakes: she wasn't sure she could stomach them), but she didn't really think about it.

_I shouldn't have come here_, she kept thinking as she looked around blankly. _I should have just kept on going. I would have been home sooner that way. Home for dinner. In my own house. With my own family. _The thought warmed her temporarily, but as soon as she looked out the window and saw the sprawling emptiness of Lewisville, New Mexico, her heart sank again. The sooner she was out, the better. Nothing to remind her of Ryan back home. Well, except for the fact that he had once lived there, too. But nothing as heart-wrenching as seeing those huge stacks of pancakes. Or the face of Doreen, who seemed particularly fond of him. Or the familiar, blonde hair of the man standing at the counter, talking to Doreen herself. He sure looked like Ryan. He even had the same shoes. Gabriella's heart stopped. It _was_ Ryan. _Oh my God. _

Ryan had followed her. And he was here.

She pulled a menu from the stack and held it in front of her face like a mask. Maybe he hadn't seen her. Maybe he never would. A single word from beside her booth, however, crashed this fantasy straight into the wall.

"Gabriella?" he said, leaning down to move the menu blocking his (girl) friend's face from view. "Aren't you going to talk to me?"

Gabriella looked up at him slowly. His smile made her heart jump, and she couldn't help but break into a grin.

"I don't know what to say," she said. "I'm… really embarrassed, Ryan. I ran away." She looked away, averting her gaze to one of the cars in the parking lot.

"Don't be embarrassed," he said, placing one hand on her shoulder. His expression was soft and placid, and he was still smiling. "It's alright."

Gabriella shook her head. "No, it's not," she insisted. "I freaked out and left. You… you can't still love me… do you?" It was a free throw, but it was worth it, as Gabriella soon learned. She opened her eyes to see that he had kneeled down beside her, so that he was level with her eyes, her wide and hopeful eyes.

"I do," he said. "I love you so much that I could never dream of describing it." He fiddled with his jeans pocket. "But I hope you'll give me that chance. Stand up."

Gabriella's heart was beating so fast that she was shaking as she rose to her feet. The butterflies in her stomach multiplied as Ryan pulled something out of his pocket. Blue velvet. Square. A box of some sort. Gabriella's heart was in her throat, it seemed. Tear formed in her eyes and blocked her vision.

"Gabriella," he said slowly. H reached up with his other hand and brushed his blonde hair out of his eyes. Gabriella felt her whole body stop. Was she breathing?

"Will you marry me?"

Gabriella felt a giggle rise up in her throat. She was crying by now, she was sure. Tears joy rolled down her face. It was a good thing she had been too tired to put of makeup.

"Yes," she whispered, her voice wet and full. "Yes, I will!"

And then, she threw her arms around Ryan's neck, right there in Tiffany's, in front of twenty or so complete strangers, and let herself cry, full force, until she was dry and empty.

To say the least, she left Tiffany's a different person. For one, she was headed back the way she had come, to the Evans' house, not to Albuquerque. And second…

… She was engaged.

The ring on her finger glinted in the sunlight, which matched her mood, even at 8:30 in the morning. For the second time this summer, things were looking up.

And to think: it all began with a car crash. A flat tire.

What a summer.

_The End_

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**Stick around for the epilogue. **

**And for Pete's sake, review!!!!**


	12. Epilogue

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Epilogue

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"_Love is, above all else, the gift of oneself." -_Jean Anouilh

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They were married in the small church next to Tiffany's, at the beginning of the next March. All of Gabriella's family was there, and a few Evans' were there as well, filling up the first few pews in the tiny building. The church itself was decorated in white and gold, with lilies and roses and ribbons and bows adorning ever nook and cranny. Gabriella had never been much of a decorator; Sharpay had been in charge of that.

Most of their classmates were there from high school. Chad was sitting in the next row behind the direct family, watching his new wife, who was one of the bridesmaids, shoot him flirtatious glances. They had been married in January. Next to them was a short, brunette girl with dangling, gold earrings and a shy smile: Kelsi, the ambitious composer. She had gotten contacts since Gabriella had last seen her. Next to Kelsi was Jason, followed by Zeke, and a couple of other basketball players whose names Gabriella had long since forgotten. Troy had invited them, no doubt.

As she walked down the aisle, her arms intertwined with her new husband's, Gabriella could see (could it be?!) Mrs. Darbus sitting in the very last pew, watching two of her greatest pupils at their best. In the next row up was the Bolton family. They had come with Troy; while still shocked that Gabriella wasn't marrying their son, they considered Gabriella a part of the family. Besides, Kayla, along with Sharpay, Taylor, and one of Gabriella's cousins, was a bridesmaid.

The reception was held back at the Evans' house, which was also decorated with flowers, ribbon, and the like ("I imagine that our house is pretty embarrassed, having to wear all of these bows, wouldn't you say?" Ryan had noted the day before). Gabriella couldn't count all of the guests who congratulated her as she walked around the place, trying not to get her white train dirty, now that there was no one to hold it up for her.

"I'm so proud of you!" her mother had already said about twenty times. "You're married!"

It had struck Gabriella a few times that she was now a married woman. Those days of parties and flirting and boys were over. _Finally_, she added. No more heartbreak. No more breakups. What a relief.

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That night, once everyone had left, Gabriella found herself sitting in sweatpants and a T-shirt on the back porch, looking out over the pool and the backyard.

"Care for some lemonade, Mrs. Evans?" Ryan teased, stepping out onto the porch. He set the glasses of lemonade down in front of Gabriella and himself.

"Sure," Gabriella said with a nod. She took a sip of the yellow liquid and exhaled deeply.

"Glad it's all over?" her husband asked, taking a seat beside her.

"Sort of," Gabriella answered, smiling. "But it was worth it." She leaned over and kissed Ryan on the lips. "I got a pretty ring, a new last name, and-" she kissed him again "-I got you."

"Maybe you should drive into ditches more often," said Ryan. "Good things come out of it."

"Nah." Gabriella shook her head. "I already have everything I want." She sipped on her drink. "And once Troy proposes to your sister, we'll have this huge house all to ourselves."

"He's going to marry her?" Ryan looked interested.

"Yep," Gabriella said. "He took me to help him pick out the ring last week. He's going to ask her on their date Friday."

"Gosh," Ryan commented. "So many weddings, so little time! It can really overwhelm a guy!"

Gabriella smiled again and leaned back in her chair. She had a husband, a new home, and this summer, she was graduating from college to be a math teacher and music major. She had her whole life ahead of her to look forward to. What could ever be better than this?

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She went on to teach Algebra II at a local high school, while Ryan bought, managed, at went on to be director at a prestigious theatre in downtown Lewisville. Gabriella served as the music director for all of his shows.

Sharpay married Troy the following winter and they moved to a friendly development half an hour south of Lewisville. Within a few days of their one year anniversary, their first child, Marcus Gabriel Bolton, was born. And a month after that, Gabriella and Ryan had their first child, Charlotte Jacqueline Evans. Both children went on to sing and act at their schools and in local theatre.

The future had never looked so bright.

And all thanks to a crash.

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**I can't believe it: I finished a story! I've never done that before! Really!**

**Thanks _so _much to all of you who reviewed! I relaly appreciate everything y'all said! It made me want to write even more! I'll hopefully have my next HSM story up soon (unfortunately not a Ryella one), so be looking out for that!**

**I really hope y'all liked this story. I know _I _sure did. It was a lot of fun to write, and I only got frustrated and erased a whole chapter, like, twice, which is a record for me. One chapter of _Gotham Prep _has been written, lke, five different times. I'm not even kidding. **

**Well, ciao for now! **

**One last time, Giz.**


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